If you want a three bed house around here, you will pay about £350k for something very small. Most small four beds start at £450,000. Its likely it'll breech £500k within about 18months.
But the problem there is there are only a very small number of houses that size. All they've built in many many places has been first time buyer homes OR huge executive houses. This has had a massive impact because young families simply can't afford the executive house their parents generation could typically afford. Instead they need smaller family homes which just haven't been built - this has pushed up the price of second tier homes and there is a particular shortage of this type of home.
I've actually campaigned locally about the problem and been told I was just trying to get a house for myself. As it goes, I wasn't - but I knew the position of my peers cos I understood the numbers. The people who tried to smear me were actively surprised when provided the figures as an example for them to look at in terms of who could afford those house. They simply did no understand the issue or the mortgage deposits/ratios etc. They were even more surprised when I didn't buy a house similar to the ones I was campaigning for.
The Nimbys have been trying hard to prevent the building of small houses too citing the fact that the roads can't handle it. I pointed out that actually the way the market was being so distorted by what was being built and the inability to staircase combined with a growing desire to downsize would lead to big properties eventually being divided because they were worth more that way and no one could afford the big house thus meaning they'd lose the argument on infrustructure in the long term didn't seem to register.
Its only when they've suddenly had a massive sharp decline in demand for school places here which is the opposite to less affluent areas of the same council that the local Nimbys woke up. They are trying to avoid schools being closed here completely. These are really good schools in nice areas. You need two professional jobs to live here if you are under 45. They struggle to recruit staff for local low paid jobs. The councillors have started to realise a lot of the community stuff isn't getting new blood because no one under 65 is moving here anymore. Cos they can't afford to. The area is well connected and there are jobs available. And guess what, the penny is starting to drop.
I've been on about this for over 10 years or so now.
Weirdly people tend to turn to private schools when they've effectively been priced out the good areas, instead of trying to campaign for the solution to the problem which is better schools and less disparity in schools and ridicilous house prices. And it always comes back to housing in this country. I want a solution to the problems of housing - not just for me but for others. Frankly we'll stomach a tax rise on a personal level.
For it to be a tax on wealth, it needs to actually be a tax on wealth. Not on those who still are trying to raise a family - we have enough issues with declining birth rates and concerns about immigration. If we don't have a climate which enables you to buy a house / rent somewhere affordable, save an adequate pension and have two kids you get all sorts of political instability. The affordability or lack of affordability of private schooling does not create any of these type of issues - theres still schools.
It is pure ignorance or personal chip on the shoulder to wang on about the comparison with private schooling.