Rather, the results are the latest manifestation of behavioural finance, which seeks to show how psychological patterns explain apparent market inefficiencies.

ECONOMIST: How the sun and the moon move markets

Greg Davies, a behavioural-finance expert at Barclays Wealth, says the experience of buying a home is a largely emotional one, similar to that of buying art.

ECONOMIST: Bricks and slaughter

Behavioural economics, which applies the insights of psychology to finance, has boomed in the past decade.

ECONOMIST: Financial economics