Council housing sell off 'will create ghettos'

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Why not rent these 'nice' houses at the market rate? Keep the balance of social housing flexible. I presume the government could reinvest its profits as any normal buy to let business would. If there is that much capital tied up then it could be used more sensibly than this. What sort of policy is it when you choose to sell in a weak market? Is this selling gold all over again?

It depends what type of properties they're talking about selling. If it's 1960s blocks of high-rise flats, then they have no market value as such - they will be pulled down for redevelopment. If they're talking about selling the freehold on individual houses in attractive London neighbourhoods, then there's no "bad" time to sell - prices are booming, and they could build 10 or 20 homes for the amount they'd gain from a single sale. This is why the idea of selling to rebuild is so attractive, financially at least.

Can't see the government or local authorities wanting to become landlords to people paying market rates for the area - that's what the private rented sector is for.
 
When is anyone going to admit the presence of the elephant in the room?

Quite simply, the price of housing in the UK is excessive and unsustainably high. Vast sums of "wealth" are tied up in fixed assets that do nothing but gum up the economy. Periods of high inflation in the 1970's encouraged people to "buy now and mortgage to the hilt" as property prices were a one-way bet, with inflation floating off the personal debt. The 1980's saw a second boom due to a massive relaxation in lending criteria, and culminated in that idiot Lawson telling everyone that MIRAS was coming to end months before it actually did thus ensuring a crescendo to the boom. The ensuing bust hurt many people badly, but after a short period of restraint the lenders started offering far-too-easy terms again, including up to 115% LtV mortgages and astonishing income multipliers (6 times or more were readily available) that guaranteed another surge.

We now have the situation where there is record demand for dwellings, precious little building going on and lenders demanding 20-30% deposits. Unless and until the price of housing drops to affordable levels we'll be stuck with the problem of how to satisfy an ever increasing demand for "affordable social housing", and all that implies.

CGT on primary residence disposal, anyone? :devil:
 
Or are some of your numbers debateable? £4,500,000,000 divided by 170,000 = £264,706 when I was at school (admitedly a very long time ago!). That's more than the 5-bed house next to me is priced at for sale! And the figures quoted in the report were 80-170,000 new homes, so the other extreme is £562,500 per house - enough for a small place near MOCAS!

What school was that? 4,500,000,000 / 170,000 is £26,470.59p

At those prices we could have built 415,555 homes for what it cost for the recent two weeks of athletics.
 
Housing associations could manage the national stock perfectly adequately. Or a housing commission modelled on the forestry commission, allowing or even encouraging profit and expansion would fulfill the same aims while retaining the investments of our preceeding generations. Which i feel we should honour. I wouldn't be too concerned if it was an apolitical body that decided to increase the turnover of housing stock.



edit currently too many decision makers are heavily invested in property prices. I would doubt any government initiative that claims to want to reduce house prices. And I would bet this one wouldn't either.
 
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I've never understood why it's the responsibility of the State to provide subsidised housing, or indeed free housing.

For the same reason that they provide free education and healthcare. Access to decent housing for everybody is one mark of a civilised society.

If you can't afford to buy or rent in a certain area then move somewhere where you can afford to live, whether it's a different neighbourhood or a smaller place in the same area. If moving involves a commute you don't fancy then move job or get a better job that makes the commute worthwhile. If you need more room because you have umpteen kids then stop making them until you can afford to look after them.

And who is going to clean the offices and work in the bars and restaurants of central London once you've banished all the minimum wage workers to the far reaches of Kent or Essex ?
 
For all this to happen there has to be a massive change in UK Housing law, guess what SWMBO has been working on for the last year ;)
 
The UK has always had a housing shortage. The 3 main builders in the UK will never build enough housing for fear of diluting there profits by degrading the value of existing housing stock. When the Labor party looked at increasing the housing stock these companies refused to have anything to do with this type of project. Look at what the real cost of a mortgage is over 25 years. The only type of rental property that is increasing is in the private sector. There is a lack of fare regulation in this sector as in most parts of Europe. Rents are rising above inflation and greed is rife across the sector. Only a small amount of landlords take there responsibility seriously.
There is now a lack of the desirable property sold to the most wealthy who purchase this type of property who don't need mortgages. These are from overseas and very rarely from the UK. Most property is only allowed on a part buy/rent bases. Nearly all social housing goes to non UK citizens. I am a Paramedic. Due to a breakdown in my relationship I have to pay a private rent. My landlord/ the agent tries his best but the owner lives in the states and is as stingy as they get. When I stop working i will effectively make my self homeless. To add to this I have Diabetes so I will more then likely die on my feet.This is what the Government would like us all to go. When they started the national pension they did not expect us to live much past 60/65. Since then medicine has managed to keep us alive well above this age.

Well Rant over
 
When is anyone going to admit the presence of the elephant in the room?

Quite simply, the price of housing in the UK is excessive and unsustainably high. Vast sums of "wealth" are tied up in fixed assets that do nothing but gum up the economy. Periods of high inflation in the 1970's encouraged people to "buy now and mortgage to the hilt" as property prices were a one-way bet, with inflation floating off the personal debt. The 1980's saw a second boom due to a massive relaxation in lending criteria, and culminated in that idiot Lawson telling everyone that MIRAS was coming to end months before it actually did thus ensuring a crescendo to the boom. The ensuing bust hurt many people badly, but after a short period of restraint the lenders started offering far-too-easy terms again, including up to 115% LtV mortgages and astonishing income multipliers (6 times or more were readily available) that guaranteed another surge.

We now have the situation where there is record demand for dwellings, precious little building going on and lenders demanding 20-30% deposits. Unless and until the price of housing drops to affordable levels we'll be stuck with the problem of how to satisfy an ever increasing demand for "affordable social housing", and all that implies.

CGT on primary residence disposal, anyone? :devil:

Don't forget the various government schemes to support the builders.

House Prices are still too high. The market is still dysfunctional. Either prices need to fall, or lending criteria needs to widen.

It's not a popular view, but one that I am convinced is correct.
 
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shortage of jobs too (thankfully it's not been as bad during this recession as some feared)
 
In my experience, a shortage of lending produces more specialised lending products, with higher fees and repayments.

For those that need them maybe. For the conventional resi market not so much so far.
 
Am I correct in saying,that all new builds of houses,over 3 units,have to have 40% of them as "affordable Housing",am I not also correct in saying that,"affordable Housing" is just another name for Council housing. This rule was brought in by Mr Blair,some years ago,after he decided that he would not finance councils to build council estates. In other words if a developer builds 50 houses 20 of them have to go to,what are now called social housing companies.
 
The elephant in the room isn't the number of house being built or the price of housing.

It's unsustainable population growth.
 
Am I correct in saying,that all new builds of houses,over 3 units,have to have 40% of them as "affordable Housing",am I not also correct in saying that,"affordable Housing" is just another name for Council housing. This rule was brought in by Mr Blair,some years ago,after he decided that he would not finance councils to build council estates. In other words if a developer builds 50 houses 20 of them have to go to,what are now called social housing companies.

I think these are 'targets' but I suspect that on many developments all that the higher levels achieve is to make developments unsustainable.

On top of that there have been issues mixing affordable housing (particularly Housing Association controlled rather than key worker housing) within schemes.

In the past some developers have preferred to shrink the scheme or to pass cash instead.
 
I believe the issue of housing shortage isn't mathematical as such.

Without knowing the actual figures, I would hazard a guess that there are more houses and flats in the UK than there are families and single people.

However, there are areas where people want to live in, and areas where no one want to live in, and the rest is in between.

I am pretty sure that there are parts of the UK where entire streets stand almost derelict for lack of tenants. As there are areas that are in very high demand. The prices will reflect this.

The question is, to my mind, a social one - what are the minimum prerequisites for suitable accommodation? In terms of condition, size, location?
 

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