Kirstie Allsopp speaks out against Hips. Photograph: Daniel Berehulak/Getty
Will the stalling housing market mean an end to property programmes? Not according to today's article in G2, in which Kirstie Allsopp and Sarah Beeny insist it will take more than falling house prices to make Channel 4 rethink its evening schedule.
However, Beeny does admit: "It would be nice, just once in a while, to see something else on the telly for a change."
I agree. I like property porn as much as the next person. I back pretty much everything Beeny tells the hapless and/or greedy renovators who cross her path, and find myself nodding along with Kevin McCloud as he summarises where the latest lot of Grand Designers went wrong. I even (sometimes) sympathise with Kirstie and Phil as they realise that some people are just too hard to please.
But some of these programmes have me shouting at the TV. The one that raises my hackles highest is Relocation, Relocation. It's not just Phil's frequent use of the term "city crash pad" or the constant recaps of the plot seemingly designed for any goldfish who might be watching.
The problem is that Phil's crash pad is my first-time buyer home - and in helping "successful barristers James and Zoe pursue their dream of rural life", or whatever the mission is that week, the Relocation team are turning another property into a second home. And when the buyers are planning to spend half the week in their "sprawling family home in the country", the effort seems particularly misplaced.
This might not be so bad were Phil's partner in crime not a woman who has taken on the task of helping the Tories make life easier for first-time buyers. So if one property show had to go, Relocation, Relocation would be first on my list. What would you choose?
