There are two types of battle that it seems to me will be an eternal one, the fight between the forces of good and evil, and the UK housing crisis.
Successive governments have all outlined some kind of magic plan to try and tackle the housing deficit and the rocketing house prices, but they never seem to make any real movement forward with the problem, and this conservative government would look to be no different.
PM Theresa May announced how she plans to alleviate some of the pressure being caused by the UK housing crisis at the recent Conservative Party conference a few weeks ago.
The PM says that they will release more land for development and put an extra £2 billion for affordable housing into the pot.
How much of a dent this will make is anyone’s guess after all, the UK’s housing market is valued at an estimated £7 trillion.
But, as the saying goes every little helps.
This could also go some way in steadying foreign investor’s nerves in reaction to the UK property investment market, London property prices have recently seen the biggest decline in the last ten years.
London relies heavily on local and international investors who view properties not as a home but as a commodity.
In 2013 alone, international investors accounted for 82% of London property activity.
64% of households in England are owner-occupiers.
The UK has lived with a trade deficit for as long as I can remember, comfortable in the fact that we would benefited from positive foreign direct investment.
According to the Bank of England, overseas investors have accounted for nearly half of all UK commercial real estate transactions since 2013.
If this level of investment were to start to dry up because of uncertainty we will see the start of a new UK housing crisis, a much worse crisis and one that needs to me avoided at all costs.
The UK property market is vital to the UK’s economy.
Households, pension funds and businesses have invested heavily; most of the country has, in one way or another, got something to lose.
Britain needs to sustain confidence in property, the asset class that counts for almost two thirds of its wealth.
So it is all well and good to try and deal with the UK housing crisis, as long it is not at the expense of others, like landlords for instance.
The recent changes to tax, stamp duty and lending criteria has all gone towards driving many investors out of the market, cutting one of the life-lines of the UK property market.
The UK government should take assertive action. This would mean the continuation of loose monetary policy, a reinstatement of tax incentives for real estate.
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