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How would you tackle the first time buyer crisis in the UK?

  • Thread starter Longterminvestor
  • Start date
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Longterminvestor

Administrator
There is no doubt that first time buyers are struggling to climb onto the property ladder. What would you do to help first time buyers in the UK?
 
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realdeals

Active Member
It is all down to market forces so simply increasing the supply of new homes is the only real long term answer.
 
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diyhelp

Active Member
Issues such as:-

Shared ownership
Cheaper new build properties such as those seen overseas

Need to be looked at more closely otherwise we will be having the same conversation in another 10 years.
 
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diyhelp

Active Member
So how would you address the margins John?

The more people not able to climb onto the property ladder, for whatever reason, must put pressure on the rental market. As buy to let investors clamour to make up for missing supply surely property prices are pushed higher and more working people are unable to buy their home?
 
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nmb

Well-Known Member
What type of houses? Social housing or private sector housing?
 
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kchiggs

Member
Both but ideally more 1 and 2 beds but built on plots with room for expansion. Even better if they are prefab factor built modulars. Not weather dependant at construction time and you can take the house with you. Circa 12 week build time too.
 
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realdeals

Active Member
Sometimes you get the impression that the UK government is working hand-in-hand with the large housebuilding companies to stop innovation in this area. I have seen many different types of small flats and houses around the world which are relatively cheap to build, can be erected very quickly and have solved many housing crisis around the world. There seems to be a lack of innovation in the UK or am I being unfair?
 
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kchiggs

Member
Plenty of innovation in the UK. Problem is house owners b2b landlords usually prefer higher values so don't want to vote for more houses. Higher supply lower demand lower prices. So change won't come until there are more people who can't get on the ladder and politicians aiming for them. Corbyns scrap council tax pledge makes sense in this context. Since lower valuations reduce gov income from ct. Ireland's Celtic tiger house building occurred when there was no council tax equivelant. It stops house building so a government committed to more houses would scrap it.
 
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realdeals

Active Member
While the whole world suffered at the time, look at what happened to the Celtic Tiger house boom. There are still masses of homes left unfinished to this day. There needs to be a degree of control on new house build numbers - not too much, but just enough to ensure no repeat of the Celtic Tiger house boom.
 
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kchiggs

Member
If that's better or worse than UK situation (look at all the empty properties in London that were taken over after greenfel) or the shortage of homes. Probably depends on your politics. Perhaps there should be controls to stop house prices getting any more out of hand?
A lot of those houses were built too far out (why Germany requires house builders to build transit lines too)
As well as too many large high end. Again you get the problem where they won't be sold below price and so they sit android rot. Maybe setting a max price isn't a bad idea then developers can work back on what they can afford to spend on building. No

Better to control type and location and transit than absolute numbers but a range isn't bad.

A much better idea social housing wise is for the gov to order a set number every year that way the security of the order let's alt techs come on line. They can always add a few more on occasional years. As supply increases prices would slowly decrease.
 
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lookinginvest

Member
I agree with some of your ideas, however, I do not agree with setting maximum limits for the price which properties can be sold. We work on a free-market platform and interfering with this platform will unsettle investors and reduce confidence.
 
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kchiggs

Member
We work on a free-market platform and interfering with this platform will unsettle investors and reduce confidence.
We don't work on a free market platform.

I presume your just against realdeals' idea of restricting number of new houses? Both are interfering with the free market you can take a political position for one or the other. In a free market you must be against both. Yet you never objected to that? Protecting investors assets is still interfering in the free market.


Investors want to keep value not a free market (planning permission is interference) where are the free market investors calling for a liberalisation in home building and p.p? in a true free market cheaper technologies would emerge to increase supply and demand would drop. If your going to worry about investor confidence forget the free market
If the free market increases it why not more free market?

Since the UK is not a free market, the question becomes why should one political group be favoured over another?
 
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