How we can fix the 'housing crisis'?

theartfullodger

surfer9 wrote: »

.....How we can fix the 'housing crisis'?.....

Simple: Build more properties:

Especially relatively cheap, 1, 2, 3 bed places: All these "executive" 4/5/6 bed palaces don't help anyone but the people flogging them.

Everyone knows the answer: This lot ain;t going to do it...

NB We need to train some people up to build them also... Gosh, more work, less unemployment, rents & house prices drop, fewer people homeless... What's not to like?

boliston

I quite like the idea of "microflats" where you have everything you need in a tiny self contained unit. I'm not really a great fan of communal student style living but I would happily give up space to live in a good central location. I think there is a lot of potential for converting offices as they are often in perfect locations for a microflat and it means living in an established street rather than a desolate characterless new build estate type block.

surfer9

I wish they would ruddy build and get on with it, but it hasn't happend and isn't happening.

The British population need to take things into their own hands. Buy massive plots of lands between us and take our share of the plot to build our own houses on. Would surely be cheaper and we'd get it done, unlike this Government or the building companies holding onto land.

Crashy_Time

surfer9 wrote: »

This is just a random thought I had......

Basically I live in shared accommodation, a 5 bedroom house in which me and 4 others share. We all have a double bedroom each.

We basically pay £6360 each per year in rental costs (excluding bills). In this day and age it is difficult to save enough money to purchase a property.....

Is there anything out there in which instead of renting a room - you can purchase your room and effectively mortgage the room?

So the house I am in is worth around £500,000, therefore each room could be bought for say £100,000 per person. A huge amount of young people would be able to afford that no problem. Instead of paying rent, they could just get a mortgage on the room in the house as well as having shared ownership on the rest of the house. The house would never be able to be sold, but the rooms can be sold on. So at some point the young person owning the room will have paid enough of the mortgage off and therefore have a big enough deposit to afford a house/flat of their own and give the opportunity to another young person to do as they did, and the cycle can go on and on.

Why don't the Government build houses like this and bring a scheme like this in for the under 30's? Even better - why don't they building large blocks of buildings like this, similar to Halls rooms at Universities but of a high standard all with double bedrooms and shared communal areas.

Basically young people would have a starting point to get on the property ladder easily, you are not losing money through paying rents, the money goes into your mortgage and into your kitty to afford a place of your own. Once you have left - the cycle goes on, another youngster comes in and so on. It's tough to even afford a 1 bed flat for a lot of young people......this type of 'buy a room' scheme bridges the large gap between renting and buying a first property.

Or is this actually something that has been done, is being done and I simply have not heard about it?

Or is there some major floors in this idea that I have completely neglected......

Are you a banker? Sounds like a winner, you should get some computer geek to "model" the risk........:rotfl: Rising rates, a collapsing EZ, public anger at the numbers in the country and the benefits they get, are going to ensure that this housing bubble gets zapped like a bad entity in a Stephen King novel....
My advice to any young person reading is to just live with your parents if you can, and save, just don`t expect to inherit a goldmine when the time comes. I really don`t know who recent buyers (borrowers) at bubble prices think is going to buy their house when they fancy a move, or did they even think about that?

davidmcn

ruperts wrote: »

I think most people in that situation, if they're prepared to stump up £10k for a deposit for a mortgage on a room, would be willing to go a few extra thousand for the privacy of a studio flat.

And studio flats are difficult enough to mortgage - because they're unpopular choices for buyers. It's a bit chicken and egg, but there needs to be an obvious market before mortgage lenders would consider anything like what the OP is proposing.

Generally people consider house-buying to be a long-term prospect, where it can take at least a couple of years before the costs involved in buying/selling make sense compared with renting. And I don't think anyone aspires to living in a shared house on a longterm basis.

marksoton

theartfullodger wrote: »

Simple: Build more properties:

Especially relatively cheap, 1, 2, 3 bed places: All these "executive" 4/5/6 bed palaces don't help anyone but the people flogging them.

Everyone knows the answer: This lot ain;t going to do it...

NB We need to train some people up to build them also... Gosh, more work, less unemployment, rents & house prices drop, fewer people homeless... What's not to like?

Aye, i concur.

The shameful policy of false selling Uni to all has to stop.

The skills shortage i see at skilled trade level is shocking and it's only getting worse. And yet most of these trades can potentially earn more than graduates over a lifetime.

I started "on the tools" and progressed to management after 3 years. Most graduates/younger twenties will not accept that first stage and spend winter mornings in a muddy field.

I know a line manager who did. He ended up running a $200 million project in china on circa £125K plus benefits.

Crashy_Time

The coming BTL sell off will dispel any notion of a "shortage" of property IMO. This idea is not workable, I would never buy a flat because you can`t control who your neighbours are, so who the beep want`s to spin the dice on having total idiots in the next room to them, without being able to exit quickly? Can you imagine doing viewings when the Spanish punter in the next room has twenty of his friends round for "drinks". Total nonsense idea, the young need to wake up, stop taking on student debt and stop aspiring to bail out mortgage debtors by paying inflated prices for property.

Grenage

People need to keep their legs shut, or discover contraception; less people, less housing concerns. Turning the world into a plasterboard and concrete jungle isn't the answer.

marksoton

Grenage wrote: »

People need to keep their legs shut, or discover contraception; less people, less housing concerns. Turning the world into a plasterboard and concrete jungle isn't the answer.

Please take this message to the Vatican. Especially their workers in Africa.

Person_one

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/apr/27/corporate-answer-to-flatsharing-london-collective