Housing as a commodity

[schratching]

Housing has become a commodity. If housing was affordable again then things would be a lot better.

I know a lot of older people that own 4 bedroom homes while the younger generation struggle to obtain a house at all or rent a room costing a £1000 a month.

What are your views? Makes me angry. And has nothing to do with the government. It is everyone's responsibility.

Of course it has to do with the bloody government.

It's more to do with house building not keeping pace with the population. The town we live in has nearly doubled in size since my grandparents generation yet as a family we take up three house (so triple the size) that's without divorce etc. We are a family for three with a 5/6 bedroom house to get the space we wanted which are rarely built now (our estate was one of the last in 1997).

Of course it has to do with the government.
Property gains are about the only form of income that doesn’t get taxed in this country. Other countries tax property gains and their property prices have a much more sensible relationship with earnings.

It's not only the UK government, it's all governments, including the US and the ECB.

After the 2008 crash interest rates were lowered to get us over the worst, and they have never gone back again - even though they should have done, years ago. Everyone got hooked on cheap debt, so they just kept it rolling along, now governments, as well as individuals, are terrified of rates rising.

If savers and investors cannot get a realistic return on their money, they invest elsewhere, and property is a good bet.

In the US 18% of all new build homes are bought by non-residential buyers, and it's getting that way here too.