Good morning from the Financial Times. Today is Monday, August 2nd, and this is your FT News Briefing.

House prices around the world have been soaring lately, and the Tokyo Olympics have pumped life

into Japan's skateboarding scene. Plus climate change is affecting what crops farmers grow,

and some countries will have a hard time adapting. People are talking about aid in the shape of things

like irrigation or agricultural technology transfers, providing drought and heat resistance

seeds, for example. It's a very difficult question, and you see the impacts already happening.

We'll take a look at the future of food and the age of climate change. I'm Mark Filipino,

and here's the news you need to start your day.

From Australia to the United States, and a lot of places in between,

House prices have been going up, a review by the FT found that of the 40 countries covered by

OECD data, just three countries experienced real-terms house price falls in the first three months

of 2021. Annual house price growth across the OECD group of rich nations hit nearly 9.5%

in the first quarter of 2021. That's the fastest pace for 30 years. Analysts say that three

main things are driving the price increases, historically low interest rates, so it's easier to borrow,

savings that people accumulated during lockdowns, and a desire for more space as people work from

home. So there's a lot of demand, and at the same time, not a ton of supply.

Now, what economist says some short-term house price growth is a good thing for the economy.

People who already own homes go out by new homes and can spend more due to the rising value of

their assets. But if it goes on for a while, it could turn into an unsustainable boom that could

eventually push activity into reverse. Climate change is shifting the frontiers of where food is

grown. Farmers and agricultural businesses are adapting to warmer temperatures around the world

and more extreme weather events. Just take North Africa and the Southern Mediterranean region

...