| Right to Buy Insanity on 09:52 - Mar 26 with 1423 views | SuperKieranMcKenna |
“ Absurd, too, is the fact that while private individuals have pocketed fortunes selling on homes they bought through right to buy, councils are forking out precious public funds to buy back the very same properties at far higher prices than they were sold for.”
Insane stuff. Meanwhile I’m part of the first generation that will probably never pay my mortgage off (and I’m one of the lucky ones not stuck in a cycle of renting). How many beneficiaries of discounted houses are now driving round in Range Rovers telling youngsters they had to pay 15pc interest once.
A truly broken system, and a report out this week (unsurprisingly) highlighted Britain having the worst value housing stock of any advanced economy in the world. [Post edited 26 Mar 9:54]
|  | |  |
| Right to Buy Insanity on 10:05 - Mar 26 with 1379 views | DanTheMan |
| Right to Buy Insanity on 09:52 - Mar 26 by SuperKieranMcKenna |
“ Absurd, too, is the fact that while private individuals have pocketed fortunes selling on homes they bought through right to buy, councils are forking out precious public funds to buy back the very same properties at far higher prices than they were sold for.”
Insane stuff. Meanwhile I’m part of the first generation that will probably never pay my mortgage off (and I’m one of the lucky ones not stuck in a cycle of renting). How many beneficiaries of discounted houses are now driving round in Range Rovers telling youngsters they had to pay 15pc interest once.
A truly broken system, and a report out this week (unsurprisingly) highlighted Britain having the worst value housing stock of any advanced economy in the world. [Post edited 26 Mar 9:54]
|
"telling youngsters they had to pay 15pc interest once."
That's been repeated here for several years during the low-interest rates time, telling the young(er) people that it's not that bad compared to how they had it when they bought their 4 acres of land and detached cottage for 25p.
Assume you're talking about the Resolution Foundation report?
https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications/housing-outlook-q1-2024/
Less space, higher costs, old and no actual stock available. Renters in particular are being slammed.
I count myself as one of those lucky few although I'm in the midlands where a few years ago you could scrape together a deposit, with the help of parents. Now you're looking at a minimum of probably 15-20k and then you have the fun of higher interest rates as well. And if you can't, enjoy rent prices. The average rent near me in the supposedly cheaper north is £800p/m for a one-bed flat. |  |
| |
| Right to Buy Insanity on 10:28 - Mar 26 with 1292 views | DJR |
| Right to Buy Insanity on 10:05 - Mar 26 by DanTheMan |
"telling youngsters they had to pay 15pc interest once."
That's been repeated here for several years during the low-interest rates time, telling the young(er) people that it's not that bad compared to how they had it when they bought their 4 acres of land and detached cottage for 25p.
Assume you're talking about the Resolution Foundation report?
https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications/housing-outlook-q1-2024/
Less space, higher costs, old and no actual stock available. Renters in particular are being slammed.
I count myself as one of those lucky few although I'm in the midlands where a few years ago you could scrape together a deposit, with the help of parents. Now you're looking at a minimum of probably 15-20k and then you have the fun of higher interest rates as well. And if you can't, enjoy rent prices. The average rent near me in the supposedly cheaper north is £800p/m for a one-bed flat. |
This has an interesting graphic lower down which shows the size of average bedrooms, living rooms and kitchens since the 1930s.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/extra/iZKMPd0wjP/council_housing [Post edited 26 Mar 10:29]
|  | | |
| Right to Buy Insanity on 10:45 - Mar 26 with 1252 views | cbower |
I've said on here before, Thatcher was the most influential British politician of the 20th Century, including Churchill. Unfortunately, her influence is a malevolent cancer which has served to concentrate the wealth of the nation in an ever smaller group whilst many live off the just enough crumbs they (reluctantly) give up to ensure the systen can be maintained in their favour.
As for Labour back tracking on another potentially transformational policy, quelle surprise! Starmer only interested in managing the current state of affairs with a more moderate face, not transforming a broken system for the better. |  |
| |
| Right to Buy Insanity on 10:49 - Mar 26 with 1249 views | blueasfook |
Phineas Harper looks straight out of 6th form. I swear guardian journalists look younger every day. But good article and he's 100% correct. RTB needs to be suspended to allow councils to build up housing stock. I don't know why Labour are also going to stick with it. I guess it's a vote winner with a decent portion of the electorate. [Post edited 26 Mar 10:51]
|  |
| |
| Right to Buy Insanity on 10:57 - Mar 26 with 1209 views | DJR |
| Right to Buy Insanity on 10:49 - Mar 26 by blueasfook |
Phineas Harper looks straight out of 6th form. I swear guardian journalists look younger every day. But good article and he's 100% correct. RTB needs to be suspended to allow councils to build up housing stock. I don't know why Labour are also going to stick with it. I guess it's a vote winner with a decent portion of the electorate. [Post edited 26 Mar 10:51]
|
Right to buy was abolished in Scotland in 2016 following legislation in 2014 in the first Scottish Parliament which had an SNP majority.
I rather doubt it would have been abolished there had Labour been the main party because as you say the current Labour policy is not to abolish it, but instead return discounts to the amount they were a decade ago. [Post edited 26 Mar 11:03]
| | | |
| Right to Buy Insanity on 11:17 - Mar 26 with 1141 views | DJR |
| Right to Buy Insanity on 10:45 - Mar 26 by cbower |
I've said on here before, Thatcher was the most influential British politician of the 20th Century, including Churchill. Unfortunately, her influence is a malevolent cancer which has served to concentrate the wealth of the nation in an ever smaller group whilst many live off the just enough crumbs they (reluctantly) give up to ensure the systen can be maintained in their favour.
As for Labour back tracking on another potentially transformational policy, quelle surprise! Starmer only interested in managing the current state of affairs with a more moderate face, not transforming a broken system for the better. |
Here's another policy which I imagine will be watered down.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/mar/11/is-labour-about-to-prune-plan-t
Peter Mandelson and the highly influential Labour Together have since expressed doubts about the proposals. Maybe it is things like this that make certain people make substantial donations to Labour Together.
https://www.politico.eu/article/meet-the-think-tank-secretly-shaping-keir-starme | | | |
| Right to Buy Insanity on 11:25 - Mar 26 with 1118 views | Ryorry |
| Right to Buy Insanity on 10:45 - Mar 26 by cbower |
I've said on here before, Thatcher was the most influential British politician of the 20th Century, including Churchill. Unfortunately, her influence is a malevolent cancer which has served to concentrate the wealth of the nation in an ever smaller group whilst many live off the just enough crumbs they (reluctantly) give up to ensure the systen can be maintained in their favour.
As for Labour back tracking on another potentially transformational policy, quelle surprise! Starmer only interested in managing the current state of affairs with a more moderate face, not transforming a broken system for the better. |
Right now, Starmer's priority is (quite rightly imho) in winning the next election. You can't do *anything* if not in power, obviously.
Judge him/Labour if/when they've been in power 4 years (or even better, 8-10) |  |
| |
Login to get fewer ads
| Right to Buy Insanity on 11:32 - Mar 26 with 1098 views | Ryorry |
| Right to Buy Insanity on 09:52 - Mar 26 by SuperKieranMcKenna |
“ Absurd, too, is the fact that while private individuals have pocketed fortunes selling on homes they bought through right to buy, councils are forking out precious public funds to buy back the very same properties at far higher prices than they were sold for.”
Insane stuff. Meanwhile I’m part of the first generation that will probably never pay my mortgage off (and I’m one of the lucky ones not stuck in a cycle of renting). How many beneficiaries of discounted houses are now driving round in Range Rovers telling youngsters they had to pay 15pc interest once.
A truly broken system, and a report out this week (unsurprisingly) highlighted Britain having the worst value housing stock of any advanced economy in the world. [Post edited 26 Mar 9:54]
|
As one of those who had to pay 15% at that time (and not much less a great deal of the rest of the time), I can assure you that it was no picnic, excruciatingly difficult to buy any property, esp in London, let alone feel confident you'd be able to afford to keep it. It was very similar to the disastrous situation Liz Truss has plunged so many into.
We weren't "beneficiaries of discounted houses" either. | |
| |
| Right to Buy Insanity on 11:45 - Mar 26 with 1039 views | Ryorry |
| Right to Buy Insanity on 10:05 - Mar 26 by DanTheMan |
"telling youngsters they had to pay 15pc interest once."
That's been repeated here for several years during the low-interest rates time, telling the young(er) people that it's not that bad compared to how they had it when they bought their 4 acres of land and detached cottage for 25p.
Assume you're talking about the Resolution Foundation report?
https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications/housing-outlook-q1-2024/
Less space, higher costs, old and no actual stock available. Renters in particular are being slammed.
I count myself as one of those lucky few although I'm in the midlands where a few years ago you could scrape together a deposit, with the help of parents. Now you're looking at a minimum of probably 15-20k and then you have the fun of higher interest rates as well. And if you can't, enjoy rent prices. The average rent near me in the supposedly cheaper north is £800p/m for a one-bed flat. |
""telling youngsters they had to pay 15pc interest once."
That's been repeated here for several years during the low-interest rates time, telling the young(er) people that it's not that bad compared to how they had it when they bought their 4 acres of land and detached cottage for 25p."
You're retro-fitting. Prices then were entirely commensurate with wages/salaries of that time. I remember friends of my then husband shaking their heads sadly when he sold his London flat upon being seconded to a 2-year project in Yorkshire. We then found ourselves priced out of London when the 2 years were up & we needed to return there, because property prices had rocketed so far out of reach - only succeeded with the assistance of a parental loan. [Post edited 26 Mar 11:48]
| |
| |
| Right to Buy Insanity on 11:47 - Mar 26 with 1025 views | SuperKieranMcKenna |
| Right to Buy Insanity on 11:32 - Mar 26 by Ryorry |
As one of those who had to pay 15% at that time (and not much less a great deal of the rest of the time), I can assure you that it was no picnic, excruciatingly difficult to buy any property, esp in London, let alone feel confident you'd be able to afford to keep it. It was very similar to the disastrous situation Liz Truss has plunged so many into.
We weren't "beneficiaries of discounted houses" either. |
That was for a very brief period of time when houses were under 4 times the average salary, that multiple is now almost 10 times (more in the south east).
Whilst I’m not one to defend Truss given the damage she did to both Sterling and the gilts markets, we’d have had steep rate rises regardless. The Fed raised rates 11 times since 2022, and the BoE 14 times (probably fair to says she’s responsible for around 0.75pc, the useless troll). | | | |
| Right to Buy Insanity on 11:51 - Mar 26 with 1004 views | Cheltenham_Blue |
| Right to Buy Insanity on 10:49 - Mar 26 by blueasfook |
Phineas Harper looks straight out of 6th form. I swear guardian journalists look younger every day. But good article and he's 100% correct. RTB needs to be suspended to allow councils to build up housing stock. I don't know why Labour are also going to stick with it. I guess it's a vote winner with a decent portion of the electorate. [Post edited 26 Mar 10:51]
|
Local councils have seen, repeatedly a swell of RTB applications in the year before every general election since 2010, because council tenants fear the RTB option being removed by an incumbent Labour government.
The Tories themselves have created a big increase in RTB by threatening to move people out of their property to smaller properties as children left home.
The discounts are often quoted as at insane levels, but this has to be balanced with the work that tenants put into their own properties, the standard of maintenance and repair delivered by local authorities is often at such a poor level that significant investment is required by the tenant.
For example, my cousin lives in a council house with his wife and children, he was decorating prior to Christmas last year, removed the wall paper only to find that all of the plaster was blown and literally came off in lumps with the paper. When he contacted the council, he was told that they only had one plasterer, so the earliest they could get someone to repair the walls was June of this year.
I think some posters are right in that we'll see discounts reduced but councils are facing a perfect storm, a dwindling housing stock, policies by successive governments that denied the use of RTB income to build new social housing, planning processes that invite objections and delay the development of new housing builds and a lack of usable brown field sites.
What is needed is something akin to Labours 'homes for all' policy of the late 1940's that allowed the development of most of the housing estates on the outskirts of towns around the country through compulsory purchase, I'm not sure any government will be bold enough to enact it. |  |
| |
| Right to Buy Insanity on 11:53 - Mar 26 with 994 views | Ryorry |
| Right to Buy Insanity on 11:47 - Mar 26 by SuperKieranMcKenna |
That was for a very brief period of time when houses were under 4 times the average salary, that multiple is now almost 10 times (more in the south east).
Whilst I’m not one to defend Truss given the damage she did to both Sterling and the gilts markets, we’d have had steep rate rises regardless. The Fed raised rates 11 times since 2022, and the BoE 14 times (probably fair to says she’s responsible for around 0.75pc, the useless troll). |
I did think the 15% was for a *relatively* brief time - but interest rates back then were far, far higher over many years - can't remember exact rates, think it was regularly about 10%? (Ie far from the very low rates in recent years). However, I had no personal knowledge of that, as I decided to split & return to Yorkshire after another 2 years in London, so wasn't involved in the mortgage any more.
Wasn't any easier then to get back onto the property ladder in Leeds I might add. [Post edited 26 Mar 12:00]
| |
| |
| Right to Buy Insanity on 12:01 - Mar 26 with 953 views | cbower |
| Right to Buy Insanity on 11:25 - Mar 26 by Ryorry |
Right now, Starmer's priority is (quite rightly imho) in winning the next election. You can't do *anything* if not in power, obviously.
Judge him/Labour if/when they've been in power 4 years (or even better, 8-10) |
Of course you are right about needing to be in government but it really pains me to see just how far the party machine is willing to stray from my political principles to get it. If the 'abandoned' policies are somehow resurrected in another guise down the line, they will inevitably have "you can't trust Labour" thrown at them won't they? | |
| |
| Right to Buy Insanity on 12:10 - Mar 26 with 882 views | Ryorry |
| Right to Buy Insanity on 12:01 - Mar 26 by cbower |
Of course you are right about needing to be in government but it really pains me to see just how far the party machine is willing to stray from my political principles to get it. If the 'abandoned' policies are somehow resurrected in another guise down the line, they will inevitably have "you can't trust Labour" thrown at them won't they? |
"If the 'abandoned' policies are somehow resurrected in another guise down the line, they will inevitably have "you can't trust Labour" thrown at them won't they?".
I'm sure they will be, but for the sake of the UK & its people, I think we just need to get 'em in, otherwise the state of #BrokenBritain could become irretrievable, esp considering how the scumbag tories have been busying themselves fiddling around with electoral boundaries, ID requirements, and other scammy attempts to lever themselves into a position of permanrnt power #OnePartyState | |
| |
| Right to Buy Insanity on 12:57 - Mar 26 with 783 views | blueasfook |
| Right to Buy Insanity on 12:10 - Mar 26 by Ryorry |
"If the 'abandoned' policies are somehow resurrected in another guise down the line, they will inevitably have "you can't trust Labour" thrown at them won't they?".
I'm sure they will be, but for the sake of the UK & its people, I think we just need to get 'em in, otherwise the state of #BrokenBritain could become irretrievable, esp considering how the scumbag tories have been busying themselves fiddling around with electoral boundaries, ID requirements, and other scammy attempts to lever themselves into a position of permanrnt power #OnePartyState |
It would be funny if he got elected then pulled off his face to reveal Jeremy Corbyn underneath.
Actually, no it wouldn't | |
| |
| Right to Buy Insanity on 14:17 - Mar 26 with 663 views | midastouch |
Worth a watch:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001rkmp/britains-housing-crisis-what-went
Britain’s housing market is broken – but it didn’t have to be like this. For decades, politicians sold the dream of home ownership. But for millions of people, the reality is very different. People struggle to buy, and those lucky enough to own now face mortgage repayments among the highest in history. A priced-out generation contends with record rents, while ‘affordable’ housing feels anything but.
In this first episode, key figures from government, finance and campaigning reveal the roots of the housing crisis – and whose decisions led Britain here. In the boom before the financial crisis, when investors raced against first-time buyers to snap up property, the average British home doubled in price in just five years. After the crisis, quantitative easing and the ‘cocaine’ of Help to Buy ensure prices keep on rising. Who really got rich during these years – and why did it take government so long to realise there were also losers?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001rsf8/britains-housing-crisis-what-went
In this second episode, key figures from government, finance and campaigning reveal the scale of the crisis Britain is in – and whose decisions led it here.
In an ugly Brexit vote, both sides try and capitalise on housing, while campaigners fear plans for a mass sell-off of social housing could be catastrophic. A succession of scandals break around new-build homes and shocking conditions in the social sector. Then, political and economic turmoil sends interest rates soaring – and now, not even the home ownership promised by politicians feels secure anymore. |  |
| |
| |
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.
