A film by DON HAWORTH The increase in house prices during the past year has been the greatest on record, and in the South East of England the scramble for property has, in the words of one building society, reached the proportion of ' almost panic buying.' This is the stuff to make the headlines. But it's only the latest turn in the hitherto silent revolution by which home ownership has spread in 50 years from one family in ten to more than half the population. The building societies, which have made it happen, are unique institutions. The embodiment of capitalist respectability, yet they make no profit and take pride in their origins in the building clubs formed by resolute and radical working men last century. Narrative spoken by DAVID MAHLOWE