When we use auto to deduce type of an object, high level consts are ignored, for e.g.

const int i = 0; //i is high level const
auto j = i; //j is an int

However, low level consts are never ignored, e.g.

const int * ptr = nullptr //ptr is low level const;
auto ptr2 = ptr; //ptr2 is also const int*

But when I define a low level const reference, and use auto, it loses the const

int var;
const int &ref = var; //ref is low level const reference
auto ref2 = ref; //ref2 is int&!`

Why is this behavior?

Tried on VS2017 C++ compiler