To think rents are going up because of insane levels of demand and not billionaires buying all the houses?

[BlueJuniper94]

Don't get me wrong, I don't like the billionaires, and I don't like them owning all the houses. But the main reason rents are rising like this is because we simply have too many people looking for housing than we have (or are building) houses for.

I’m stating one of the reasons why we have a shortage of houses. Where did I say we had to restrict anyone?

“There’s multiple reasons rent has gone up so much and it started with Maggie thatchers right to buy and the failure to include a legal mandate to build new council houses with the money that came from the selling off of council houses.”

So far from any legal mandate to build new social housing with monies from the sale of council housing, Thatcher required a very large proportion of the money to go straight to the Treasury.

No failure at, just regulation Tory spite.

Genuinely not being goady, but why is it offensive to use the term boomer? I call myself a millennial and I didn’t know these generational terms were insulting.

This is a huge issue in tourist areas.

But mostly it's we haven't built enuogh housing for literally decades.

.and the boomers not downsizing

They outright own their homes - but most I know did look at downsizing hoping to free up some money or just get a more suitable property for olde age.

However there is a lack of suitable properties - risks in state you are buying vs house you've done maintance for decades plus moving cost - mostly it's not really worth it.

There is though also an issue with very rich buying up assets as the returns otherwise are very low - apparently - so is an issue likely to grow over time but don't think it the main issue yet - give it a few decades and it could well be.

New Landlord regulations, and energy regulations are now pushing many to sell their properties. Less properties available, mean that those landlords providing rented accommodation have the monopoly of the market. In turn the property market is swamped with properties for sale, the time of year and the dire current market means it's stagnant. Private rental properties where I live in Dorset, are horrendously expensive and there are not many available. My friend rents a 2 bedroomed bungalow for her and her two sons, it's £1,500 per month, plus an extra £50 per month on top because she has a small dog. A 4 bedroomed house up my road is being rented out for nearly £3,000 per month! I don't live in a massively wealthy area, either but neither is is poor.

The cost of moving is one deterrent for us, especially land transaction tax (stamp duty). We're still in the extended 4 bedroom family home with a decent garden and relatively private.

Also, we've become used to space and privacy - new build 2 or 3 bed houses in our budget are tiny and too close together.

I'm in a sea side town. Lots of residential homes have been turned in to Air B&Bs and serviced apartments charging huge rates. One of my friends ended up homeless (no fault of her own) and had to pay £800pw to stay in an Air B&B for months. Despite her having a good income and good landlord references there was no where else for her to go. Even temporary homeless accommodation was full. I don't think all the owners are billionaires but they are people making an income off the housing crisis which IMO is not ethical.

Why should I downsize? I look after grandchildren every week and have them overnight. I need my spare bedrooms. Hope that’s ok with you. If the greedy buy to let landlords all sell up there will be even less places for renters. Obviously.

House proces are indeed function of supply and demand. But the demenad side is a complex picture. People who want to own rent because they cannot affors to buy, Peole who want to rent socially rent privately because supple is catastrophically low.

Our economy is very London and SE focussed so demand will always out strip supply there. We have an ageing popuation and older people are more likely to under occupy and there are limited incentives to downsize. We also have had 40 years or more of policies that protects and rewards investment in resential property over and above all other income and asset classes.

It is not as simple as people in, people out.

The housing crisis was caused by Margaret Thatchers 'Right to Buy' scheme which has seen 2.4 million social housing homes sold to private owners between 1984 and today.

Imagine how much better the system would be right now if those 2.4 million homes were still available to the most needy in society?

I own a 3 bed end terrace BTL in a mid size NW town - same family have lived there since 2018 (rented within the first day of me putting it to market). Quick look on rightmove now shows me there are no comparable price properties in that area at all if I sold now and they had to move elsewhere. The available 3 bed rental properties are charging up to £600 per month more than I charge currently. A crazy difference for a family to find. There is a huge demand for affordable 3 bed homes.

I wonder when the immigrants would be blamed,it did not take long.

More people equals more demand for houses. That's hardly a controversial fact.

Correct. Supply & Demand.

It's not the fault of immigrants that too many visas have been issued relative to the number of homes being built for well over a decade - achieving only the illusion of economic growth while the country's productivity was on its arse - that was the fault of government.

This sleight of hand - pretending that people are xenophobic for observing the incompetence of government - is ridiculous.

Most of the bungalows in the village where I live are being extended upwards and outwards so there won’t be any bungalows for people to downsize too. Lots of greenbelt land has been built on in the past few years but they are all over £500k so none of it is affordable housing.

Im seeing so many houses which were rentals now up for sale. The ones left are in very short supply and extortionately priced! Im currently buying and i know im fortunate but my mortgage is significantly less than my rental payment. More should be done to help long term, reliable paying renters into a more secure housing situation eg 5% deposits or even 100% mortgages. The worry of landlords selling up and no fault eviction is real

Playing Mumsnet Bingo, are we?

YANBU. Rents are going up because demand is massively outstripping supply. It was announced this week that net migration to this country was over 700,000 people, this year alone! You can't have that level of immigration for years in a row and not expect there to be a massive effect on housing costs and quality of housing. The number of new homes needing to be built (let alone the rest of the infrastructure) to cope with this level of population increase is astronomical. We have a massive housing crisis that has been building for the past 20-30 years and successive governments seem intent on making it much worse for some reason.

It’s worth remembering that about 1/3rd of immigrants come to study, adding £55bn to the economy and keeping universities just about afloat.

Because it’s generally used by younger people in a negative way ie boomers are hoarding big houses. You rarely hear someone say how marvellous it is that boomers provide so much free childcare to their sons and daughters.

2025 saw an 80% drop in student dependents following the recent changes. It had got to almost 100,000 student dependents each year before they thought to rein that in.

The rich benefit from increased house prices and they also control the supply of housing. House builders are building houses slowly, councils are slowing the planning system and government aren’t wanting to disrupt the current trend because the majority of their voters are delighted they have an asset that’s growing in value.

What we need is a post war style investment in housing, we need a decent chunk of this to be owned by councils, it’s not realistic for everyone in private rents to become home owners, but council housing gives much more protection than private rents.

There isn’t a way out of the current housing problem that doesn’t involve house prices falling and this will put some people into real difficulties.

I can’t understand why the government have not stepped in and built large areas of elderly housing at affordable prices instead of these extremely expensive retirement villages that are priced higher than normal housing.

Because governments really don't care about ordinary people's standard of living. We must stop thinking they give a shit.