The sell off! Affordable housing is dead!

 

Photo by RODNAE Productions: https://www.pexels.com/photo/signages-for-real-property-selling-8292794/

So the 80's brought us public assets like BT, the Electricity Boards and British Gas, but they also sold our houses. 

In theory this was to us. We own it therefore can gain wealth from it's increase in value. For those living in any form of social housing this was a great chance to gain an opportunity for financial reward. 

For 30 years a generation and a half have benefitted from ever rising property prices, banks have profiteered as well with mortgage revenues like never before but the big winners have been the house builders.

Your house increases in value based on demand. Yes economic cycles and recessions play a part but who holds the key to supply? Land is "banked" by the major home owners, properties bought on stream to maximise revenues, house built to minimum standards to maximise profit and we are left with a over heated market of average to low quality housing. The UK Average house price is now more than 10 x that of the average salary. Remember a 3 x mortgage principle for sound lending. That has gone and we are left now chasing uninspiring homes at hugely inflated prices. We must stop land banking by developers and the government has to support the building of better homes, the retrofitting of existing properties and the provision of more social housing. Safe to say the idea of affordable housing is dead.