Housing Shortfall approaching 1 million

ninky_2

to the OP, it is not a shortage of availability but a shortage of affordability. and the fact that in a culture of easy credit the two are not linked.

lostinrates

Really2 wrote: »

To add they are usually empty for a reason and the major one is that the areas need major regeneration. .

Not always, the two I mentione are not, and I can think of the most beautiful derelict (but I don't know whether empty or not, in a prime road in Hampstead, on Downshire Hill ..does any one else here from London know the area? ) The house looks like a HUGE piece of coconut ice, its darling. I know of another property, a stucco house that has been empty since the 70s, in Kensington.....I last knew about that in the late nineties though, not sure whats happenned to it now, and the Downshire Hill one I haven't seen for a few years either. In fact, thinking about it, I can think of loads of lovely little plces, ripe for developement in many ''disireable'' places.

although, I do not deny your point, areas in need of regeneragtion are also blighted, just that, this is as you say, a majoy reason, not a necesary one.

kennyboy66_2

The solution appears to make all those single householders co-habit.

If it was good enough for Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau (or Eric and Ernie if you like, then you only need one bedroom!). it should be good enough for us.

Really2

lostinrates wrote: »

although, I do not deny your point, areas in need of regeneragtion are also blighted, just that, this is as you say, a majoy reason, not a necesary one.

Indeed but the majority of the houses (long term empty) in the list are in the poor areas in need of regeneration not in nice areas that need doing up unfortunatly. (that is why I stated usually, I generally use that to cover a majority of cases)

I came from a very nice rural area and the only ever empty houses were usually shells suffering from major structral defects but even then with the land they occupied they were worth more than your average 3 bed semi.:eek: (but again they are empty for a reason they are not economically viable to do up)

I bet the two you are on about would still be out of reach for the majority of FTB's even without the costs of doing them up included.

I think only half of the houses on the list are only long term empty anyway (over 6 months unused). So the other half must be in-between lettings or sales.

Really2

kennyboy66 wrote: »

If it was good enough for Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau (or Eric and Ernie if you like, then you only need one bedroom!). it should be good enough for us.

And Burt ans Ernie.

StevieJ

kennyboy66 wrote: »

The solution appears to make all those single householders co-habit.

If it was good enough for Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau (or Eric and Ernie if you like, then you only need one bedroom!). it should be good enough for us.

Can you imagine if it was Ant and Dec now you would probably get old Mary complaining if she was still alive :eek:

PasturesNew

lostinrates wrote: »

For students in many other countries, they expect shared rooms in halls of residence etc, something fewer and fewer of us would consider ''acceptable''.

When I was about 20 I had a friend who shared a flat with another girl. They had one bedroom and each of them had a 3/4 sized bed. On the few occasions I stayed there the night, I'd share a bed with my friend, so there were 3 of us in the room.

And at the time, while not perfect, it seemed perfectly normal for two people to share one bedroom in a flat. Although bedrooms were bigger back then. By now a developer would have split it into two bedrooms I bet.

nembot

This thread should be renamed "Sensibly Priced Houses Shortfall"

There are only a lack of the above, with the primary factor being greed.

kennyboy66_2

PasturesNew wrote: »

When I was about 20 I had a friend who shared a flat with another girl. They had one bedroom and each of them had a 3/4 sized bed. On the few occasions I stayed there the night, I'd share a bed with my friend, so there were 3 of us in the room.

Sounds like the plot for some Robin Askwith sex "comedy".



ps - one of the 'Confessions' films was the highest grossing film in the UK in 1974 - surely a high mark in Britsih culture.

lostinrates

PasturesNew wrote: »

When I was about 20 I had a friend who shared a flat with another girl. They had one bedroom and each of them had a 3/4 sized bed. On the few occasions I stayed there the night, I'd share a bed with my friend, so there were 3 of us in the room.

And at the time, while not perfect, it seemed perfectly normal for two people to share one bedroom in a flat. Although bedrooms were bigger back then. By now a developer would have split it into two bedrooms I bet.

One of my friends and I rented a flat at niversity, it was two bedrooms, but only one room had a heater in, and a double bed, so, most of the winter we shared that room, and if anyone had an overnight guest they took the ''cold room'' in the expectation the cold would bother them less. I remember a lot of our friends being quite...shocked.

yes really, I agree, the two in London and one of the ones coming on market here are not ftb/young family purchases price wise, but the other (and even the more expensive one) are both significantly cheaper than even prosaic looking 3 beds in the area.