Tory about-turn on council houses

undetterred

Should'nt this 'shortage' cause prices to bottom or even rise?,yeah sounds good:rolleyes:

nearlynew

undetterred wrote: »

Should'nt this 'shortage' cause prices to bottom or even rise?,yeah sounds good:rolleyes:

Do you also believe that it was shortages that caused prices to rise during the boom?

barnaby-bear

undetterred wrote: »

Should'nt this 'shortage' cause prices to bottom or even rise?,yeah sounds good:rolleyes:

There's an awful lot of self-correction in the system and interaction.... people lose jobs, grads can't get jobs etc... so people move back in with parents, stay in houseshares as couples rather than renting a flat, people commute further, foreign workers may move on/home - people do the same things if accommodation gets very expensive.... if credit reduces prices fall but many can't benefit as they can't get the credit.... it's not just prices that should influence housing need but needs of the economy for staff and the conditions/crowding of the accommodation.

amcluesent

As I posted a few days back, social housing looks like a very good sector to be employed in over the next few years.

Even 'professionalising' LLs could be good, as Adam Smith (almost) said..."a group of professionals rarely gather together under one roof without the talk turning towards collusion against the public"

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

carolt wrote: »

Seems like a good idea - I'd much rather rent from a professional landlord than a greedy amateur sans a clue.

The fact that you are renting from a greedy amateur is probably the only reason you are able to rent for less than a mortgage.;)

Huge pension funds will only invest if the returns are better than other returns they can typically get, mortgage lending included.

And if they did buy up hundreds of thousands of houses, they'd certainly be able to influence rent prices upwards, as well increasing asset prices through sucking up supply. Their costs of maintenance and operation would be far higher than for the typical individual BTL landlord too, further driving up prices.

I'd love to see this put in place.

carolt

If you read the article, the whole point is they're not planning to 'buy up hundreds of thousands of houses', they're planning to build them.

Big difference - they increase supply rather than decrease it. So rents would fall rather than rise.

Obviously, they wouldn't waste money buying up existing stock at 2007 prices - only a real mug would do that - as that way they'd never make any money.

Obviously, most tenants would rather rent from a professional, properly run organisation than an individual amateur.

Times could be getting even tougher for amateur BTL landlords, I'm afraid.

PasturesNew

It doesn't make economic sense to buy existing houses. It is much easier/cheaper to build your own new ones - the future ongoing maintenance of them is also a doddle because they're all in a row and all contain the same facilites, equipment, fittings. Much easier to maintain 30 identical boilers in one road, than 30 separate and varying boilers spread across a town.

amcluesent

I expect that the infrastructure investment/PFI funds were upset when Jack Straw opted not to build the five 'Titan' super-prison to house 2,500 at each site.

Simply take the bars off the windows, add some bicycle racks and - bingo! Affordable housing with a professional landlord.

'umin rights means inmates enjoy all mods cons of the ensuite, sky TV etc. so the accommodation would be ritzy.

carolt

I'd imagine the standard of the average prison is indeed well above that of the average new build, yes.

mvengemvenge

carolt wrote: »

"Radical policy shift as homes shortage deepens"

Sounds good:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/jul/12/conservatives-increase-low-cost-housing

The words 'door', 'horse' and 'bolted' spring to mind.

They decimated social housing in this country, they didn't believe in society, now, 30 years later, they're seeing the consequences, with race wars starting over who gets which house.

Not very bright, are they?