Rent Controls - The Swedish Experience

MPD

When the minimum wage was introduced.

CLAPTON

MPD wrote: »

When the minimum wage was introduced.

the minimum wage was introduced at level well below the de facto minimum wage of the day
so it had no effect

it was steadily increased during the boom period of the 2000s when wages were increasing anyway

the proposed 9.35 per hour (by 2020) is well above the current de facto level

we will have to see what happens

92203

We don't have rent controls, yet still have a housing shortage in the more prosperous parts of the country.

Assuming it's not possible to liberalise the planning system, I'd quite like to see a state run house building scheme, with hundreds of thousands of houses and flats built for the rental market each year.

This would increase housing affordability and give people secure, affordable homes, while at the same time maintaining labour mobility.

CLAPTON

92203 wrote: »

We don't have rent controls, yet still have a housing shortage in the more prosperous parts of the country.

Assuming it's not possible to liberalise the planning system, I'd quite like to see a state run house building scheme, with hundreds of thousands of houses and flats built for the rental market each year.

This would increase housing affordability and give people secure, affordable homes, while at the same time maintaining labour mobility.

that would be a liberalisation of the planning system as the issue is permission to build and release of land

cells

in Germany the private landlords seem to be able to operate at a PROFIT and pay taxes on the profit and do all that by charging rents below that of council homes in the UK

The largest German corporate landlord owns over 300,000 properties and the average rent they charge for a 75 sqm apartment is 390 Euros a month (£285 per month)

private rents are only an issue in areas of a shortage of homes.

zagubov

cells wrote: »

in Germany the private landlords seem to be able to operate at a PROFIT and pay taxes on the profit and do all that by charging rents below that of council homes in the UK

The largest German corporate landlord owns over 300,000 properties and the average rent they charge for a 75 sqm apartment is 390 Euros a month (£285 per month)

private rents are only an issue in areas of a shortage of homes.

Germany recently released a whole load of brownfield land for development by decommissioning military land from US airbases etc. It was about the size of the country of Luxembourg IIRC.

I sometimes worry that much of the rUK's obsession with buying property is due to a lack of faith on the state pension system.

Generali

zagubov wrote: »

Germany recently released a whole load of brownfield land for development by decommissioning military land from US airbases etc. It was about the size of the country of Luxembourg IIRC.

I sometimes worry that much of the rUK's obsession with buying property is due to a lack of faith on the state pension system.

If you were to take out the word 'state' then I think you'd have it spot on. The BTL phenomenon started around the time of Equitable Life's collapse (I almost typed Equitable Lie which would have been more appropriate) and came about I think as a result of a lack of trust in The City and a belief by people that they 'understand' property.

Also, if you take the experience of the last 40 years, property basically only ever rises in value in nominal terms: ultimately no matter how poor the investment decision, your bad decisions will be bailed out by inflation!

cells

There was always BTL in the UK generali, in fact if you go to 1987 or any time before that the BTL sector was bigger than it is today as a portion of the stock. Of course they would have perhaps been inherited or cash purchase lets back then whereas the new breed of landlords are borrow to buy to let (actually mortgaged BTL still outnumbers borrow to let but you get the idea)

antrobus

cells wrote: »

There was always BTL in the UK generali, in fact if you go to 1987 or any time before that the BTL sector was bigger than it is today as a portion of the stock. ...

In 1987 9.47% of the housing stock was private rental; in 2013 it was 18.54%.

cells wrote: »

...Of course they would have perhaps been inherited or cash purchase lets back then whereas the new breed of landlords are borrow to buy to let (actually mortgaged BTL still outnumbers borrow to let but you get the idea)

Then it wouldn't be BTL now would it?

Generali

cells wrote: »

There was always BTL in the UK generali, in fact if you go to 1987 or any time before that the BTL sector was bigger than it is today as a portion of the stock. Of course they would have perhaps been inherited or cash purchase lets back then whereas the new breed of landlords are borrow to buy to let (actually mortgaged BTL still outnumbers borrow to let but you get the idea)

I don't think that's true, in my lifetime at least. Anyhoo, BTL refers quite specifically AIUI about a person borrowing money to buy a place and the rent is then used to pay the mortgage costs.