JOSH RYAN-COLLINS* (JR-C) GETS THE FACTS RIGHT

On WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE TO FIX THE HOUSING PRICE CRISIS

 Fact 1. Building Lots More Houses will not fix it. 

Fact 2. 'House' prices are not rising--

     It's ONLY the Value of the PLOT -the land the house is built on             that is rising, not the Value of the Building. 

JR-C gets it. The conclusion that stopping land-price rises is far and away the best fix. (Although ‘only’ holding building costs shows a tech failure by the industry)

Fact 3. Buyers seek an asset (land with a house on) and some also want a house (a commodity, a structure, a thing) to live in

BTL, landlords, 2nd homers, o'seas buyers of bolt-holes are investors only. Those looking for a place to live are both investors and commodity buyers

Fact 4. Liberalised, predatory finance is the main driver of consumer demand

In the main, buyers are looking for a good investment, as well as a nice place to live. For the BTL crowd investment is the only motive with capital gains a priority.

FACT 5: YES, IT IS EXTRA BANK LENDING PUSHING UP PRICES,

Not house prices rising with banks running after them with bigger mortgages

 This is a technical point to do with Correlation and Causation which slick tricksters try to use to defend the banks’ immoral and incontinent behaviour. So this is a bit longer than previous Facts.

I'll be elaborating each of these themes over the next few days and weeks.

*Josh is the best, most clued up academic writing about the UK Housing Crisis. His latest paper lays out the facts: Ryan-Collins, R. (2024). The demand for housing as an investment: Drivers, outcomes and policy interventions to enhance housing affordability in the UK. UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, Policy Report 2024/13.                                                                  Available at: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/policyreport-2024-13. Filed at HML/HousingMarket/Invest see NewStatesman p57 25-Oct-24