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.

With regards to my friends (we’re mid 30s), a lot of them have hefty deposits from parents but still moan about house prices. Whenever I bring up rightmove and show them the 50+ properties in their price range loosely in the area they want, they’re never good enough. What they mean is they want some kind of Insta show home in an exclusive area, with high spec everything, and anything else is deemed squalid (even if it’s just slightly out of date).

I remember one colleague regularly posting on social media about his struggle to buy a house, he’s an ‘Antifa’ type who is very TWAW and thinks Corbyn is our rightful leader - lots of posts about why billionaires are to blame for his housing woes, how the wealthy are terrible people and so on. Eventually he buys a house.. in the most affluent, posh, gentrified part of our city. The house must’ve cost a fortune. I find it so hypocritical that he spent ages waxing lyrical about being skint and how awful the upper middle classes are, yet when it came to his own home, only the posh expensive area would do.

@CatHairEveryWhereNow

And what about the impact on graduates of long term government debt?
What about the jobs economy to help these graduates find suitable employment?
What about the devastation to areas with high levels of student accommodation who lose their sense of commuity, facilities?
How many local people are employed in universities? EG: M13 is adjacent to Manchester university yet a very low % of people were employed. If the % is higher now it will be because of the social cleansing that goes on with gentrification.

Students spend money in particular ways. They tend not to have school age children which unbalances communities and often leads to school number problems.
There are huge social issues living in an area with a high student population. Financial issues like home and car insurance costs were traditionally much higher in student areas.

I'll go and read the links later - but I suspect none give a net benefit figure for student areas.

Isn’t there a rule where you get an exemption if you spent £3,500 per property?

(Not disputing any of your points btw, that’s still a lot of money to find.)

I would say it is a mixture of things, largely led by landlords taking advantage of increased demand. And that demand is caused by people in their 30s still not able to afford to buy somewhere.

In my parent’s day poor families lived in a room and kitchen. They weren’t asking people living in their own big homes to move, why should they?

If someone can afford a large house on their own because they’ve worked and took risks surely that’s their own business? I’m in a four bed alone now my son is off to university. I will move to a three bedroomed property.

Some less affluent people seem to have a massive entitlement that would’ve never occurred to myself. If people can afford to be single parents in large houses they own well that’s their business surely? You can’t come along and say I’ve got umpteen kids and can’t afford a house so people who’ve made sacrifices have to take the hit.

Theres a massive shift in mentality that there wasn’t years ago. Actually in my generation poor people lived in council homes. They didn’t get access to private let’s. They didn’t get brand new homes in nice areas through housing associations. In 2007 a large family on benefits moved near me they were a nightmare very anti social although they were oblivious to their behaviour. I was delighted when Cameron brought in benefit caps for rent on benefits. No one like that moved in again.

The Labour government are planning large social housing areas. So basically like the estates of the 1980s. Labour aren’t great for social mobility although many of their leaders benefitted from Grammars schools but got rid of them. You won’t be getting grammar schools on these new estates that’s for sure.

There are economic implication to uni closing down.

Clearly you don't like HE - frankly I do think there are issues with but to say they don't have a huge contibution to local economies and national is just daft.

Oh, I thought it would be our fault, of course it is. 🙄,
Yes, I do get a bit twitched about this. The youngest boomers are 61 yrs old. Many have children still living at home. Many will still be working. Why would they move? Children are often around now until they are 30, so there's a need for space.
Older (oldest boomers are nearing 80) people might like to move to a bungalow-these are both rare away from seaside towns and sometimes expensive. Many have been enlarged by developers and are now large houses. I was talking this morning to my lovely neighbours, early 80s. Considering a flat (one bed) with a well known brand. They said the cost was prohibitive. Things are not always simple.

My local university employs 7,500 staff and is by far the biggest employer in the area. Universities bring a huge boost to local economies.

@OriginalUsername2no cap at the moment. Their might be some help available but only if your tenant is on benefits. I've decided I will be selling up if this is still policy in 2028. I know it won't affect sitting tenants until 2030 but if I wait until then the market will be flooded with EPC D houses. It's sad because they are actually nice houses. I never rent out a house I wouldn't be happy to live in myself. The huge irony is my own home is EPC D and we are perfectly happy with it and have no plans to change it.

Do you mean mum should stay at home?

The whole situation is catch 22.

Perhaps the government should cap private rents based on the size of the property and more in line with social housing rent? Obviously this would be challenging for many landlords as the rent would no longer cover the BTL mortgage, and perhaps they'd have to sell. With more houses on the market and without the capital return on rent, house prices would drop making it more affordable for those wanting to buy. But at the same time less private rentals available... (so not great for those without the means to raise a mortgage).

But then look at it on the other hand. How many people stay living in a city on crappy wages despite the cost of living being extortionate? And yet you can move to other parts of the country, still earn minimum wage, and yet can private rent a 3 bed semi for £750 pcm. Why do people not shun expensive cities and move? I've moved all over the UK and generally liked everywhere I lived.

I think because the job situation in those parts where house prices are cheaper isn’t great.
There is also a crackdown on WFH in the civil service so you still need to be based a reasonable distance from the office.

Land lording is an investment activity, you're putting your money into bricks and mortar instead of buying stocks and shares.
If you borrow money to buy stocks and shares you can't offset the cost of borrowing against the profits from the stocks and shares. That's why it's quite right and proper that landlords don't get tax relief on the interest that they pay.

@Sharptonguedwoman and a lot of older people are allergic ( and I understand why) to service charges they can’t control - which is why I wouldn’t buy flats over 55 - but would rent them - personally I think we need more good quality flats for over 55s ‘for rent’ on long term secure tenancies - 2 storey low rise blocks with balconies or patios and at sensible money ( think £600 to £1300 a month max) not the £2500 to £4000 a month that companies like Churchill or McCarthy stone think are fine - people who are selling up could bank their funds and let the interest pay a lot if this, people without many assets would be just about the level of local housing allowance in a lot of areas. I would if I was the gvt be hugely incentivising pension and insurance companies to develop these - big tax write offs etc

Yes that’s a really good idea though many wouldn’t like their parents taking away their inheritance.

Care homes will do that for you.

No. Immigrants themselves are not to blame. As individuals they are behaving rationally by coming to the U.K.

Politicians of both major parties are to blame for enacting policies that resulted in 25 years of uncontrolled mass immigration which the British public never wanted and never voted for.

I love HE.
But it used to be about a limited number going off and doing degrees.
Now 50% of kids go to uni.
To stand out they have to do more than a degree and that makes life hard.
It's also depriving us of the skills that s thriving country needs.
We need massively more apprenticeships.
We also need to respect the skilled medical people we train.

If the previous governments had aimed for 50% of kids going on to do apprenticeships then our country would be in a better state.

HE has ballooned into a business monster which is ultimately going to eat itself. It's not sustainable and it's not sensible.

Many aspects of the UK economy are broken and it is our children's futures that will be most damaged.

The world moved on - we need more people with higher education than in past - though not sure it should be as high as it is.

I do think vocation trianing is completely wrong but uni are currently huge employers in some cities - TBH they'll probaly have to slowly contract as it is as fewer 18 year olds in population - but there different to manafactoruing a crash.

Given the huge amount of student housing blocks built in many uni towns in recent years I'm frankly surprised they are being blamed in any way for housing shortages in the UK by anyone.

34% of 18 year olds in 2024 went into Higher Education. Remember when it was only 10% in the 1960s Nurses and teachers didn’t need degrees. Look at all those polytechnics they became universities and now all those access courses into universities, so the school as not getting them through their A levels. If you consider 34% going to university and take off private schools an even smaller amount from state schools go.

Also I am enjoying the press slagging off higher education all the time with people telling you become a plumber. As someone who’s had a trade myself and made a decent amount as you get older you do wind down and can’t work the way you did in your 20s.

Having a trade suits lots of people but so does higher education. A great deal of young people are not fit for work I had apprentices in the past. Most don’t have the work ethic to make good money. So it’s fine if you’ve good an excellent work ethic and you can make money then. In the classes which don’t value education they also lack delayed gratification which is also a barrier to learning.

There are over 50 properties on the market in my small town, starting from £80K. Nothing to rent though for 20 miles.

This is a direct result of the actions of the Welsh Govt and is what will happen shortly in England. The odds are so stacked against small landlords that no one wants to be one. My own home doesn't meet the EPC requirements for letting now and it's very typical of the area. I couldn't rent it out even if I wanted to

A lot of smaller landlords gave up as the risks and costs were too high - more and more regulations, harder and very costly to evict a bad tenant. Less properties available now. Unintended consequences of government meddling with the housing market...

Since the year 2000 the UK population has increased by 10 million - roughly equivalent to a "new" London (pop 8.9 million) or four Manchesters (pop 2.8 million).

However the number of new houses, flats etc built in the same period was only 1 million.
The average number of people per household is 2.35.

So basically it is simply supply and demand. To fix it build another 3.2 million houses now and stop the population increasing.

That's less than two years of recent net immigration housing needs.

Very true!