To think housing in this country is fundamentally broken?

@FilterBubble Ah! The delights of China await!

You could say that most cars are empty and unused for what, like 99% of the time. So let's bring them all into public ownership. Most gardens remain unused. Most land isn't used for much! Heck my Bedroom is only used for about a 1/3 of the day, what a terrible waste! Heck some people are heating a house, when all they really need is to heat the living room. Yes, let's all steer towards some tremendous efficiencies, perhaps actually build a real example of a working mega-city with combined heat and power, full waste recycling, social canteens and entertainment hubs and get shuffled about by vacuum tube.

I think Labour have had enough time now to make changes and at least start making a difference.
Continuing to blame others for the next 3 years is only going to end one way. Reform and Farage

I’m quite happy to sell my holiday home to Cornwall council. Will they give me market value for it? I don’t mind 10% under actually.

And 13 years of Labour before them during which the housing crisis was worsened rather than improved.

I agree with all that. Far too much property is empty too long, whether holiday homes or empty whilst residents are in care homes or simply where owners are waiting for developers to buy. All the different reasons need a solution and owners need to be forced to sell/occupy.

Bungalows may appear a waste of space, but you can at least do something interesting like sweeping terraced units, they afford privacy at least. And countryside could remain feeling spacious. We could try for some actual decent garden cities. It's not like the countryside around me is used well. I would like to see something more akin to decorative crescents, terraces, stylish mews, rather than boring large lifeless flats that age terribly in about 5 years.

Oh come on. 14 years of Tories got us here.

You're not wrong. We don't build the housing typologies that people want to live in. But think about what would happen to cities and our countryside if we built enough bungalows to house all the baby boomers. They're incredibly inefficient for space.

@onpills4godsake Do you realise how much this costs? Often the buildings are in less desirable areas and cost exceeds sale prices that are likely to be realised. If there was money in it, of course repurposing would happen. They aren’t because the costs are very high and cleaning up possible pollution is difficult and expensive. Its not an easy solution,

Next door on both sides we have new neighbours. Solid 3 bedroomed, 1930s semis, in a Northern city, popular area. Young couples with no children, both working, have bought them. £250-280k. Second purchase for both, they previously owned smaller properties.

I don’t think we need to build at all- we need to renovate and repurpose all the empty buildings - so may large buildings in disrepair

i loved the £1 house initiative in Liverpool.

@billysboy Where is it 9 x one income? Maybe for a teacher in London but in my local town it’s not. We are SE. Go further north and it’s definitely not 9x for a 2 bed.

We bought 47 years ago. Small 3 bed semi - 3 x DH and 1 x my salary. He could have afforded a 2 bed on his own but not a 3 bed. He was a qualified engineer. We were a couple so got more because of my income. Interest rate - 15%. It was way easier than now but we would still be able to get a 2 bed. So it’s not that people cannot buy, they just don’t get what they might like. Many in London have that issue.

back in the eighties and early nineties it was 3x income to buy a house plus deposit
it is now 9 x income
people’s wages have been eroded away with inflation
Angela Rayners ambition and statement to build 1.5 million homes in this parliament was never achievable without a huge change
affordable housing is at 80% of market value so not necessarily affordable to most that live in high value areas to start , it is not the same as traditional council housing

@xSideshowAuntSallyXx No one has a right to buy a home. No one. I take the pragmatic view that buying as a couple (or two single people!) makes financial sense. There’s affordable housing in some areas and not in others and for many reasons being a single person in the housing market is expensive.

House prices have gone up due to shortages of houses. It’s fairly basic economics. People want to own homes and it pushes up prices due to lack of places to buy.

Single occupiers should receive 50% council tax reduction.

You're missing the point entirely and keep going on about single people not having the same rights. Everyone should have the same rights to a home. A single person shouldn't have to spend their life in a bedsit or hmo just because for whatever reason they're single.

When my parents house, bought in 1994, was affordable on one salary but is now out of reach to anyone who isn't a couple both on a 6 figure salary it's gone up that much, the housing market is completely fucked.

Fundamental change first, before more building. Brownfield site development first and changing/adapting building use instead of urban sprawl.
Change in laws about property bought for investment that stands empty. Ditto second homes.

@OhDear111 You are missing the point that it is almost impossible for a single person to buy a house these days but years ago it was easier. The house I mentioned last night sold for £60k twenty years ago, a price someone on an average salary back then (£24k roughly) could comfortably buy.

@xSideshowAuntSallyXx I’m afraid you don’t have a right to buy anything. I never said single people were a underclass but they are economically disadvantaged when it comes to buying somewhere. It’s blindingly obvious a couple is better! Many singles have struggled for decades and most we know have had help from families. You don’t have a right to the same salary as two people or to buy anything.

People ignore the fact salaries have stagnated for years, the high cost of the first rung & the age of FTB. This all makes the idea of climbing the property ladder now redundant for many.

But single people aren't an underclass of society,we have as much right as a couple to want to own our own home. In my 20s I could buy a house on my own, with a 100% mortgage and 5 times my salary, and not even shared ownership. Salaries haven't gone up at the same rate as house prices.

I got on the property ladder in 2009 and my original flat went on the market recently for 90k more than we paid. You can guarantee salaries haven't gone up at the same rate.

Also decades ago divorce was frowned upon too, people stayed in unhappy marriages, people stayed in abusive marriages. If we carry on restricting owning and even renting to those on high salaries or couples through the ridiculous prices we just make people stay together when they really shouldn't.

Why don't you put your own fence back up?

Maybe we should move to a more continental model and let council properties on secure tenant repairing leases (excluding major structural issues).In rental properties in Europe, tenants replace their own kitchens and bathrooms etc and fully decorate knowing they have security of tenure. If you don't look after your property to a reasonable standard, you are evicted (and not offered an alternative). It would save the council millions of pounds and make tenants more responsible for their own housing.

@curiositykilledthiscat Two nurses could or two teachers. It’s a case of getting a deposit together but that’s not an out of reach price. We need to realise it was mostly couples who bought years ago and singles nearly always had parental help even 47 years ago when we bought. Many have always had to big in less desirable areas. As you progress through your career, and the average salary of teachers is nearly £50,000 you get something better but partners are needed.

@curiositykilledthiscat
We have.
Its called the lack of a property floor
directly atrributable to right to buy and the destruction of social housing.

If people can move from affordable rented home
to affordable rented home
there is no house price inflation

the private selling market is a ponzi scheme driven by
percentage commissions on all valuation services

but the lack of a floor allows it to happen