AIBU to think that the UK housing crisis is not caused by supply and demand?

[Goodnightseamer]

It's often trotted out as a reason but there are 29 million houses in the UK. There are slightly fewer than 28 million households. That's over a million houses more than there are households. So there are plenty of houses. Houses are unaffordable due to speculative investment, not under supply. AIBU?

The thread basically asks if the OP is being unreasonable for saying the housing crisis is not caused by supply and demand, followed by scores of replies saying YANBU but using supply and demand to explain the housing crisis.

Yeah maybe. Our current Tory PM turned the London property market into a money laundering hub during his time as mayor.

There are plenty of houses where there is little work. There are plenty of holiday homes and short term let’s. There are plenty of houses standing empty for various reasons.

But people want a home where they have a chance of a decent life. It’s been a problem since the industrial revolution.

@Unhomme Because it is much more complex than that, and saying merely supply and demand, and let's build more homes won't actually be useful when although that is a big factor, there are so many others also at play!

I read recently that David Burt, who predicted the 2008 crash in the US has raised concerns about the links between climate change and the housing market.
Millions spent on buying costal homes, but the homes are built cheaply. What will happen as sea levels rise, flood risks, changing natural disasters etc?
Cheaply built homes, ( though over priced!) might appear like a good short term solution, but actually might pose a whole other risk in itself. He was saying it could be the cause of an unparalleled housing disaster. I wouldn't pretend to know if that's realistic, but I do think we forget that misusing the earth, and profiting from human basic rights, like housing, comes with a price eventually.

Echoing the comments from Miaowing above.
In the process of selling our house at the moment and 2 different estate agents have said the same thing; Young couples/1st time buyers seem to want to move straight in to a "finished" project. No interest in renovations or DIY.

@species5618 probably because they are paying through the nose for it, as a fixer upper. Paying a 1k mortgage and then renovating is not realistic, for many. Why would they not instead add £200pm to their mortgage and buy a house that is more of less ready to go? Makes sense to me!
I agree with a PP reply to that argument also, that people are buying for the first time later in life, with children and professional jobs and so can't be living in a bomb site, renting a second home and coming back from work to DIY.

As per my previous post @species5618 it’s not about interest, it’s about availability of cash

A young couple back then was 18, a young couple now is 28. It makes a huge difference.

Agree with miaowing as well. I’ve bought four fixer-uppers in turn now, the last in 2011. It had been on the market for 18 months so I got it for a good price. It’s almost finished, a bathroom and playroom still to do.
Each time I’ve sold, my equity in the next house is more. And I get to live in lovely places, although I do a lot of the work myself which can be heavy going sometimes.

My niece refused to move into her first flat because the blinds weren’t right

@mintjulia How have you afforded to renovate? What year did you buy your first property? For many first time buyers, a house now is really stretching the budget and with such high deposits there is nothing left over. There's also the fact that house prices now are rising at a slower rate, so you are not guaranteed to make the money back by completing work.

Young couples/1st time buyers seem to want to move straight in to a "finished" project. No interest in renovations or DIY.

Or no money/skills. Also the first time buyers are more likely to be mid twenties rather than 18 and chances are they will have a child or two in tow.

For all those saying the solution is building more affordable homes and protecting renters rights... Without wanting to engage in policical debate on this thread, VOTE Labour in December! Read their manifesto and policies for housing, old Corbs might not be everyone's favourite PM, but what counts is the policies. From this thread alone, its clear to see we are knees deep in a housing crisis. Do something about it and use your vote to put an end to this absolute nonsense of profiting from human needs.

It’s alright saying there are a million extra houses. They’re not all sitting ready to have a family in them though? Holiday homes= belongs to someone who visits it for two weeks a year- underused, but they’re not interested in selling. They need two houses. Dilapidated/needs a lot of work= up to the owners to either fix it and sell it/let it or sell as it is to someone who will. You can’t force people to sell property they own just because you like the look of it/can see a profit. They need that pile of bricks.

My niece refused to move into her first flat because the blinds weren’t right

A rental? In which case why would she spend money on a property that wasn’t maintained well?

A purchase? In which case her money her choice. Why should she buy something that doesn’t meet her requirements just because you would?

I think (have thought for a long time) that something absolutely needs to be done about the ease with which private LLs can refuse to let to people on benefits. DH & I are being evicted soon as our LL is selling - can we hell find another affordable private rental locally. Even less so, one than is willing to take us - I'm disabled & currently not working, & DH only works p/t due to my health & as he is retraining in order to increase his long-term job prospects (because that's what you do, isn't it!) We're hoping to get social housing but that's in short supply, as it is everywhere. It is really frightening to know that if DH & I broke up he would probably be left to go homeless simply because he is a man, while DD & I would be housed .

perhaps we should start to consider the nation's housing stock as a resource that we all have a responsibility to maintain?
As a homeowner you are in a privileged position, should there be penalties for allowing a property to fall into a state of disrepair, or at the very least incentives to keep it in a good state of repair?

And fwiw I would love nothing more than to buy one of the cheap fixer uppers around me and turn it around. But as a single parent earning just enough to cover the rent and bills I can’t save a deposit and I cant get a mortgage. I’m very definitely not the only one in this position.

My niece refused to move into her first flat because the blinds weren’t right

A rental? In which case why would she spend money on a property that wasn’t maintained

I know someone who got a council house (some years ago), there were actual holes in the external walls, apparently. They were plugging them with newspaper & bits of clothing that the previous tenants had left behind. LOL in disbelief at turning a flat down because she didn't like the blinds!

It seems from the post that the niece wouldn’t buy the flat because she didn’t like the blinds- The woman has clearly missed out on a few life lessons somewhere along the way

I think (have thought for a long time) that something absolutely needs to be done about the ease with which private LLs can refuse to let to people on benefits Then you need another think! It is NOT the landlords that refuse. It is their mortgage lender. There are often some quite onerous conditions in a BTL mortgage. Many LLs are campaigning to get that changed. I know a few locally who are flouting their own mortgage lenders clauses and challenging them as restrictive practice!

It is shit, but it is no use blaming the worng people!

Universal credit means it’s no longer practical for mortgage lenders to specify no housing benefit (not all mortgage lenders do this btw) but banks are quite slow to respond

I know someone who got a council house (some years ago), there were actual holes in the external walls, apparently. They were plugging them with newspaper & bits of clothing that the previous tenants had left behind. LOL in disbelief at turning a flat down because she didn't like the blinds!

Pretty standard for council housing. Also a huge difference between people who are private renting and council. Council tends to be people who have no other choice (do you really think they accepted a house with holes in the walls if they had a better choice?) whereas if she was able to turn down a house because of the blinds it suggests she had other, better options. In which case it’s utterly bonkers to take the lesser of your options when it isn’t what you want. People get to decide what to spend their own money on you know!

Bit of inverse snobbery going on here.

There is a mismatch between where the houses are and where the households want to live

This is the main reason IMHO. The other reasons are:

• more single households than there used to be
• more empty second homes

Interesting positive note about UC Passthecherrycoke I hadn't made that connection

We have more single households but we also have greater numbers of people living with parents into their 20s and 30s also more house shares and flatshares, there is quite a lot of elasticity in the system