There has been a recent big push of people going for second home ownership as substitutes for a pension scheme

Same here...Some friends actually started to behave totally crazy...buying and buying...mortgage after mortgage...Luckily they have tenants and rents are pretty high. But if any of them lose just one job it's going to be hell. Some even calculated that they need to buy like 6 or 7 properties to be able to live comfortably after retirements. Well housing market is pretty strong here for now but I expect it to follow European and USA at some point. We do not live on another planet and we are connected big time financially with all of you guys.
It was on TV the other day that retirees are financing their life style increasingly by taking loans on their equity.
I wonder if there will be a state pensions in say 10-15 years and as market can crash any time they can lose peoples retirement funds in a day...Interesting and scary times we live in...