Labor has restored the mandatory housing target of building 1.5 million homes, including affordable and council homes. But how realistic is this goal? Can he achieve what the Tories haven’t?
Readers on MetroTalk today note that it is not a government building house, but a large builder.
In the meantime, what is driving house price inflation? Should the UK sacrifice the greenbelt? High water bills and do we shower too much?
Share your thoughts on these topics and more in the comments.
Labour’s plan to tackle the housing crisis
About Labor’s plan to relax planning rules to tackle the housing crisis and stimulate economic growth (MetroTalk, Thu).
I have worked in the housing industry for more than 30 years and every time I hear a government minister say they are building x number of houses in a year, I laugh.
The government doesn’t build houses – it’s only for people who build big houses.
And it is not a plan that stops building houses. It’s not in the interest of the big house builders to hit any targets – just simple supply and demand.
If the target is every year, house prices will fall along with profits.
Now they start building houses only when they are sold, as you can see from the figure.
The housing crisis can only be solved with real social housing – but no government will do that because it will cause the market to collapse. GGT, Southeast
METRO TALK – WHAT?
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Foreign investors inflating UK house prices?
I totally agree with Vic Parks (MetroTalk, Thu), who said foreign investors are inflating UK house prices.
Before it was built, many British properties were marketed and sold in South East Asia, where properties were very expensive.
An article published by a wealth investment management company three years ago showed that Hong Kong was the fifth largest foreign investor in central London.
As of December 2023, there are more than 30,000 registered foreign companies – not individuals – owning property in the UK.
Can anyone provide the ratio of properties owned by UK residents vs non-UK residents in this green and pleasant land? Mity, London
There is a simple answer to MetroTalk’s question whether the green belt should sacrifice in the name of growth. It’s ‘yes’.
England’s ‘green and pleasant land’ has billions of acres of wasted green space where affordable homes can easily be built. Millions of hectares of brown belt, with empty and empty buildings, easy to rebuild.
If the new Labor government can change the planning regulations and urge the Nimbys to stop whining and embrace change, then the younger generation of would-be homeowners and renters will be very happy. What’s not to like?Al Charlton, via email
Should Nimby join the program?
Enough of the dreams that have been sacrificed on the altar of Nimby’s self-interest who owns the house. We live in a country where societal progress is constantly stalled by the flow of these naysayers. Yann, Manchester
Water bills go up
Regulator Ofwat has given the green light for bill increases but not as much as water companies want (Metro, Fri).
The company’s cheek said it wasn’t enough to pay off the investment.
Why don’t they use the money from dividends and bonuses instead?
Bonuses should be performance based, not ‘awarded’ by contract.
Thames Water, which is £15billion in debt, said it needed the money for a ‘turnaround plan’, meaning price rises would be used to pay down debt and bonuses. Pedro, Hammersmith
Perhaps the water company should look at how much our bill payments go to shareholders instead of for the maintenance and repair of the country’s system, or how much the CEO of the company takes, because of the bonus on top of the high salary.
They have tried to shift the cost of cleaning our rivers to the public after dumping tons of sewage on them, because they are more concerned with stealing their own wealth than using it to invest in profitable companies. Matthew, Birmingham.
P Munden (MetroTalk, Friday) said we should use less water and people should shower more than necessary. A lot of people only shower once a week… that’s just on my wagon. Joe, London
More than a prison overcrowding crisis (MetroTalk, Friday), thousands of people are in prison simply because they cannot afford a decent lawyer. If everyone in prison in the UK had a lawyer like they do for Donald Trump or OJ Simpson, our jails would be half empty. Richard Farrar, London
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