I guess it's just lack of supply
Supply isn't the problem as there are over 600,000 empty properties in the UK (last time I checked)
The problem is with the current distribution system. Absent owners, deceased owners with no will or beneficiary listed and of course the blood sucking developers land banking plots of land up and down the country and to a lesser degree investment property bought by foreign investors.
There is no shortage of housing just a broken system that allowed things to get this bad
Well yes I absolutely agree, I wasn't being that critical here, I just took 'legal supply' - I agree 100% the system is totally broken!
Distribution is it basically. On top of that so many older people living in massive houses they don't need, but they'd cite the emotional ties as being important to them!
It depends on where those houses are as prices vary massively. A 2 bed terrace may cost £60k in a deprived area or £300k where people are wanting to live. Those who could work totally remotely ought to be opting for the former, but most people need to get to some place of work.
I've seen prices go up a lot around here since we built our house 20 years ago. My kids will struggle to buy something.
I remember not to long ago seeing whole streets of houses being offered for £150 per house admittedly they were in terrible condition and mostly up north but what struck me was that the local council were not allowed to buy them?
That my friend is/was government policy.
Those housing laws must be repealed asap so that councils can get back into building homes for their constituents. As used to be the norm.
Not everyone wants to buy a home. Not everyone can afford a good house.
Home ownership is a relatively new concept.
The 'housing ladder' was a marketing ploy cooked up by the Tories and their builder buddies to sucker people into lifetime debt.
If you have a mortgage (literally death debt) you are unlikely to go on strike or demand better working conditions.
It is messed up. With so many people having an investment in property it's controversial to mess with it. I'm hoping Labour will be bold.
I'm lucky to be mortgage free.
Fortunately there are many people who are also mortgage free so it really doesn't matter if the housing market crumbles.
It's collapse is long overdue and has been artificially propped up for way to many years.
I used to study the housing market quite a bit but the constant Tory government interference in the market made it impossible to correctly gauge.
Labour needs to build millions of houses and fast. Not the paltry 1.5 million suggested.
That would bring the markets back into equilibrium. Some people will lose equity in their properties but it's for the greater good.
At the moment virtually no one can afford a home and that is not only scandalous it's against basic human rights.
Do we have the building industry that can and will build that many homes? We need those council houses back.
We have to wait and see. After and before Brexit many European workers left the UK as they feared the government would fling them out.