Number of Houses for Sale falls to all time low.....

Loughton_Monkey

cells wrote: »

What were those three D's that force you to sell?

Divorce...
Death...
Some help with the third D....

How has the death rate faired over the last decade or so?

You probably mean "Debt" but personally I blame Kirsty Allsop.

Death doesn't have to result in a sale. It is usually passed down to someone under a will. The recipient may or may not sell.

Death rate per thousand is a bit meaningless from the perspective of house availability.




I suspect the number (rather than rate) of people dying could be a more fruitful starting point for research, but to be meaningful, you would need to investigate the death of house-occupiers who do not have other people living with them.

This house could be rented or owned. If owned, it will definitely pass on to new ownership. If rented, it may be sold, or it may be made available for new renters.

Adult population trends together with average occupancy statistics are likely to be more meaningful figures from the perspective of supply/demand.

Loughton_Monkey

shop-to-drop wrote: »

They need to do something about stamp duty to get more people interested in moving up the housing ladder.

If I were Gideon, I'd think on the following lines...

No. of houses in UK, say 25 million
Of that, 68% owner occupied = 17 million
Privately owned but rented = 20% = 5 million

So 22 million houses exist, and roughly 1 million change hands every year. So let's say a 5% 'turnover' per year.

Average Stamp Duty? No idea. Probably about 2.5% so an annual tax in the order of 0.125% (£250 per average house) would probably bring in the same revenue.

Average Council Tax? Around £1,500?

So a 17% (of council tax) extra levy would do it!

Make it 20%, and there's a nice little 'wedge' going into the Treasury. Sold as a 'fairer' system. Hope that people having bought (and paid stamp duty) and never going to move would not gripe too much about 'double taxation'. Hope that renters don't 'notice' that their rent goes up as a result - on the basis that the landlord paid his stamp duty and this is 'extra'.

Give that a few years to die down, then introduce a novel idea of "stamp duty", only this time a percentage of 3% to 5% of sale price for the seller.

... large gin & tonics all round in the treasury...

TruckerT

Jason74 wrote: »

I think the pertinent point you make about the reason for the lack of supply is how easy it has become to rent out existing property, rather than sell it. An inevitable consequence of that is that houses don't change hands as their owners move on, meaning that the historically natural flow of supply is disrupted

What you are describing is a move away from owner-occupation to a greater dependence on renting. That (and the overcrowding) is precisely what everyone is having kittens about.

But the lack of supply is nothing to do with the behaviour of existing homeowners, it is to do with the reluctance of builders to build. A river which is almost completely dried up is unlikely to have much of a flow!

As an aside, accidental landlords are very often taking all sorts of risks with the t&c's of both their mortgages and their insurance policies. Not to mention a whole raft of bye-laws and council requirements regarding rental properties.

TruckerT

Road_Hog

Loughton_Monkey wrote: »

You probably mean "Debt" but personally I blame Kirsty Allsop.

Kirsty has a much nicer, more attractive and fitter sister, called Sophie. Who doesn't have hips the size of a barn door.

Loughton_Monkey

Road_Hog wrote: »

Kirsty has a much nicer, more attractive and fitter sister, called Sophie. Who doesn't have hips the size of a barn door.

Very nice.

Shame she couldn't get into television or something. Where does she work as a fitter?

Road_Hog

Loughton_Monkey wrote: »

Where does she work as a fitter?

In the gym, unlike her sibling who works in the canteen by the looks of it.