Soldato
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That's the crux of it really.
Cameron's housing plans
- Thread starter robfosters
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That's the crux of it really.
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This sounds great, maybe they are taking my advice. It sounds counter intuitive. but the economics is sound. With the current housing market the shortage is in large expensive houses, not affordable housing. Plus no one wants to live in crappy tiny flats. There is enough housing for people they just can't afford them, so what we need is housing above the bottom, so that it frees up the all already existing market of attached and semi detached row houses and the rest for the people entering the market.
The problem is they just not building enough of them. They need like 500k, £600k+ houses to realy make an impact.
This.
Some girl on my Facebook constantly moans about how she cant get on the ladder and that it is all the evil tories fault etc etc. However she used to work in the same place i did and earn the same i do. She left and possibly earns more now ( i don't know) but still moans constantly on Facebook about it.
I managed to buy my own place with my gf over a year ago on a pretty modest income (as my gf only had a part time position at the time and her freelance work didnt count towards the salary calculation as she hadnt been doing it long enough.) without any help from our parents.
Another girl at my work has managed to buy a little place for herself, just on her own as well.
So that is three people who were in exactly the same situation - two people get on the ladder and one just ****es and moans that they can't all the time....
This is all in the South East (Surrey/West Sussex) as well.
To be honest i think a lot of it is down to people not having the will power to live sensibly and manage their finances properly. What we have is not ideal (would have liked something a bit bigger) and we had to go a bit further south than we wanted due to prices so my drive to work is 10 minutes longer than i like but you just have to be prepared to make a few small sacrifices in this sort of thing.
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Anyone with a shred of common sense knows the system is hugely broken and the more this goes on, in London and the SE at least I believe we're in an unsustainable bubble. Splurging £300k on your first home is madness. Yes I can't afford to buy a flat in London but more to the point I don't want to spend that much money on a flat that I've already grown out of. Do I want to buy a Nissan Micra for £75k? No. Do I want to buy a 1 bed flat in Ealing for £400k? No. Do I want to buy a 2 bed flat in Crystal Palace for £350k? No.
If you don't believe the current market is unsustainable then why do you think the Tories are doing so much to prop up prices. They have the grey vote, they need them to feel rich and that's that. More to the point:
- Properties in many areas are 'earning' more than their owners per year. The whole 'get off your backside and work for it' argument is null and void if a flat is 'earning' £30k a year in zone 3. Those saving for a deposit can't even keep up with the price rises, let alone make a dent.
- Average age of a FTB is nearly 40 years old. Nobody even talks about the social implications of this. People aren't having kids, people aren't getting married, people aren't getting involved in their local community? Why would I give a **** about my community if I rent and could be kicked out in 2 months?
- Average house price to earnings should be around 3x salary to be called 'affordable'. The average is what, 8x? Madness. Bring on an interest rate rise and let's see how that FTB £300k mortgage looks..
If you don't believe the current market is unsustainable then why do you think the Tories are doing so much to prop up prices. They have the grey vote, they need them to feel rich and that's that. More to the point:
- Properties in many areas are 'earning' more than their owners per year. The whole 'get off your backside and work for it' argument is null and void if a flat is 'earning' £30k a year in zone 3. Those saving for a deposit can't even keep up with the price rises, let alone make a dent.
- Average age of a FTB is nearly 40 years old. Nobody even talks about the social implications of this. People aren't having kids, people aren't getting married, people aren't getting involved in their local community? Why would I give a **** about my community if I rent and could be kicked out in 2 months?
- Average house price to earnings should be around 3x salary to be called 'affordable'. The average is what, 8x? Madness. Bring on an interest rate rise and let's see how that FTB £300k mortgage looks..
Soldato
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This is what happens when you let every man and his dog into the country without building new homes.
Well done Labour voters of the past
Well done Labour voters of the past
You've missed the point - the reason that the larger homes stay on the market for longer is because fewer people can afford them. I agree it'd be great if we could all afford to live in 4-bed detached bungalows like they do in the USA but the reality is that with land values and planning targets, there just isn't the space for that in this country.
My comment was on the blazé attitude to the BTL system, not buying a house. But it's one thing to expect people to make an effort to get a house, and it's quite another to revel in the system that allows those who are already in that fortunate area of concentrated wealth and taking advantage of the abusive BTL system.
Well, according to Balky12, that's your own fault for bad life planning that you decided to move out of home and you should stop whining you can't afford to save £1000 a month, because you're obviously just spunking it all up the wall going out every night.
I mean, why didn't you still live at home while working in London? (of course it doesn't matter that 'home' might be 150 miles from London) then why didn't you get that job in your local area....what, the type of job you're trained for isn't in your area....you self entitled ****, why do you think you have the right to just live in the area you grew up in, just move to get that better job.
Oh wait...
Who's fault is it then? I never said don't do it. Just don't moan if you can't afford to be a home owner because you have made specific choices that ultimately meant getting on the housing ladder is more difficult?
Want to be a home owner? Go be a home owner.
Want to follow you dream job? Follow your dream job.
Don't blame others that you can't unfortunately do both.
I want to live in the mountains and snowboard everyday. I also want to stay close to friends and family. I chose the latter. I don't blame anyone else for the fact I can't do the former.
Why stop at telecommuting? They keep banging on about how they support a "Northern Powerhouse" with little evidence to show it, stop investing so much in London and move it north.
I really wish the world was as simple as it seems to be for you.
Soldato
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Were I live the 4 bed detached houses sell faster than anything else.
Every area is different.
I still don't understand the number of Government departments etc that are run out of London for no good reason! The BBC stuck it out for years but the move to Manchester doesn't seem to have harmed them and has certainly boosted the local economy.
Back to housing though and the only ay to improve the situation is a massive building program but that isn't in the interests of rich people and big business and oddly if one were undertaken that actually reduced house prices the big homes builders would all want to stop building as they only like to build in a rising market!
London could be made much more affordable if we taxed the backside out of foreign property investment and tried to drive a housing market that is about homes and not profit!
Just wash your mouth out with soap you Commie *******, how dare you suggest we do something for the social good and not the divine goal of profit and shareholder benefits!!111!!
sigh... Some one i know had their planning permission refused, because his planned house was not in keeping with the street.... He decided to make it smaller and more eco friendly than the rest. and because it would "look out of place" they refused it... THIS IS WHY NO HOMES ARE BEING BUILT, STUCK UP COUNCIL MEMBERS
Councils are corrupt, too. It's just another club, sadly.^
So, that's what everyone's been doing wrong then.
So, that's what everyone's been doing wrong then.
i love the focus on first time buyers too. what about people that fell off the ladder due to changes in circumstances that now cannot get back on?
which is great, but to afford to buy a similar size house to which we rent now we'd have to move from the south to around derby (which would probably result in a pay cut, looking at the figures, so would not actually work out any better).
the housing system is fundamentally broken.
which is great, but to afford to buy a similar size house to which we rent now we'd have to move from the south to around derby (which would probably result in a pay cut, looking at the figures, so would not actually work out any better).
the housing system is fundamentally broken.
Well, according to Balky12, that's your own fault for bad life planning that you decided to move out of home and you should stop whining you can't afford to save £1000 a month, because you're obviously just spunking it all up the wall going out every night.
I mean, why didn't you still live at home while working in London? (of course it doesn't matter that 'home' might be 150 miles from London) then why didn't you get that job in your local area....what, the type of job you're trained for isn't in your area....you self entitled ****, why do you think you have the right to just live in the area you grew up in, just move to get that better job.
Oh wait...
a serious question. would you move 100 or 200 miles away from your family and friends?
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It is a delicate balance, you could approve 500k houses tomorrow and find there's no one to build them, the labour force that are available will demand and be offered higher wages increasing costs adding to build costs.
No one in the last 20 years thought when leaving school or college, do you know what I want to be a bricklayer / plasterer / electrician. There's a chronic lack of skilled labour and stretching the workforce will increase prices and reduce quality then we'll all be complaining about low quality housing stock and the building of the next generation of ghettos.
We need a few new market towns.
Soldato
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Yes, the BTL system is a thorny issue. On the one hand we have to try and operate a capitalist free market, on the other we have to balance social responsibilities.
Personally, I am all for more control in the rental market. Even rent caps for private landlords too.
In many regards it isn't the lack of available housing that is a problem (although that is part of it) it is the artificially sustained high prices.
My feeling is, as a country, we need to take back control of the housing market and manage it as a state asset rather than letting it rot in the free market.
In 1959, Labour came up with the idea of right to buy, then old Horace and Maggie got hold of the idea and ran with it. Then Blair played his part too.
Pointing the finger at this stage is pointless (hah jedi punnage)
The government really ought to step in and take control because housing is going to become a national crisis within the next 50 years. We used to build 300,000 houses a year and with better technology and building methods I see absolutely no reason why we can't do that again. Trouble is the government cannot afford it and builders won't take the hit either. So what do you do?
This is the cost of a free market and I am not sure if we are too far gone now.
Some of the ideas posted earlier would go some way to help. Heavier taxation on BTL landlords (or rent control legislated and enforced).
Taxation on land that is empty. Taxation on businesses that buy a whole building and only use 1 floor of it. Ban overseas purchases (or purchases by companies based here but are owned by overseas companies). I would also promote self builds and introduce initiatives to facilitate it. Urban regeneration incorporating housing, not just business and infrasttucture. Incentives for brownfield development, as well as revisiting the idea of new towns and taking a long hard look at greenbelt laws.
Hit profiteers hard and send out the message that housing is a state priority and a civic responsibility, not an opportunity to make money. How many of us here would pay more tax if it meant ring fenced funds for a better housing system for all? I know I would (and I am a home owner).
Just as the bubble burst for home owners, it also needs to burst for the builders and BTL landords too.
This. The company i work for is in construction. We have to keep turning down work and can't build anymore houses as we just can't find the labour.
Plus good labour is becoming a price premium and driving up costs. Already the top guys are on £24 per hour.
Equally materials are in short supply esp bricks. For a new estate starting to be built in Jul/Aug next year we have to order the bricks now otherwise we won't have them.