BBC: Housing Shortages

Graham_Devon

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

It would all help.

And if you enacted them all, it might buy us four or maybe five years.

But at a tremendous cost to personal freedom and choice.

Why tremendous cost?

You could say the same about the staged tax costs on cars. The staged payments on the congestion zone. Costs of fuel.

No one is taking your freedom of choice away. All they would be doing is making a home, a home. Not an investment opportunity for those already wealthy enough to buy such a commodity that is scarce and something we ALL need.

If it's about freedom of choice, howcome we pay a huge amount of tax on alcohol and fags? Howcome we pay a £1000 window tax on large cars at the dealer? Howcome we pay £10 to board a plane? Howcome if I make over a certain amoutn of money a year I have to pay the next step up in tax?

Your choice is still there. You just pay for it.

Invest in Art. Invest in Wine. Invest in Shares, Gold, Silver, Oil, Fine cigars, Commerical Property, Classic Cars.... I don't care, just don't make an essential commodity an investment pushing others needing that essential commodity out and pushing the tax pot up by forcing ridiculous schemes to house people.

bernard_shaw

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

Such high prices cannot exist if there were not a shortage.

That's not the case. It ignores the supply and demand of and for money.

Milton Freedman got a Nobel for basically re-stating the content of this equation:



From the idiot's guide.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantity_theory_of_money

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

bernard_shaw wrote: »

snip

Lower prices do not solve overcrowding.

Only more houses can do that, which will then result in lower prices.

Shuffling people from one set of houses to another by manipulating prices does not address the issue at hand......

bernard_shaw

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

Lower prices do not solve overcrowding.

Only more houses can do that, which will then result in lower prices.

Shuffling people from one set of houses to another by manipulating prices does not address the issue at hand......

You are intent on ignoring the effect of liquidity on house prices.

Do you even acknowledge that recent excess liquidity has lead to unsustainable pricing?

There is no housing shortage, but there is a shortage of housing people can afford. An effect of loose monetary policies and easy credit.


edit.

BTW, you going to change your sig?
http://www.ros.gov.uk/pdfs/local%20authorities%20dec%202009.pdf

Really2

Graham_Devon wrote: »

More houses....

Or, lower priced houses, with less of the large family houses being taken up with 2 people knocking around in them just because they can on the back of massive profits from HPI.

Oh was that the reason some of the single "bears " on here last year wanted to buy prices to fall low enough to buy a 4 bed detached for one person?

I thought it was argued as preparing for the future?

I can't see the problem of people buying what they can afford, in the end we do live in a free economy.
What's the problem with preparing if you can?

Really2

bernard_shaw wrote: »

There is no housing shortage, but there is a shortage of housing people can afford. An effect of loose monetary policies and easy credit.

So are you saying their are enough houses built but they need to co,e down in price or do these affordable houses still need to be built?

Seeing there are 4.5M on council and HA lists it seems to indicate they have not been built as these are people not looking to buy.

Considering most newbuild site require at least 20% of houses to be HA etc if they are not going to built where will they come from?

Or should we relocate people to areas where there are no jobs but deserted housing estates just so they have a house but no future prospect of employment?

IMHO housing shortage means shortage where needed, not in general. We have some caves near where I live they were inhabited up to 100 years ago. But that hardly indicates that there is enough housing in that area either.
If a house is empty it is usually for a reason. If not perhaps some one could do a break down of houses empty for over 6 months and the waiting lists for houses in those areas.
That may give an idea of if we have a shortage or not.

Graham_Devon

Really2 wrote: »

Oh was that the reason some of the single "bears " on here last year wanted to buy prices to fall low enough to buy a 4 bed detached for one person?

I thought it was argued as preparing for the future?

I can't see the problem of people buying what they can afford, in the end we do live in a free economy.
What's the problem with preparing if you can?

Did you actually read my posts on this or not?

I said myself I don't agree with it. But if we have a problem, it needs sorting. One way to do that is to make something less desirable, as they have done with cars.

Really2

Graham_Devon wrote: »

One way to do that is to make something less desirable, as they have done with cars.

Put a LADA badge on them?

adr0ck

supply & demand

more houses = lower prices

end of argument

1984ReturnsForReal_2

adr0ck wrote: »

supply & demand

more houses = lower prices

end of argument

Do you ever get the feeling that you have read something before??