The UK is in the grip of a nasty housing crisis. House price-to-earnings multiples are still near record highs — and not coming down in a hurry. The latest numbers show house prices are down marginally over the last year but that they still jumped 0.7% in February. Rents aren’t easing the general sense that something has gone wrong either: They are up by 9.2% in the last 12 months.

Who’s to blame? I’d start with the politicians who have presided over a fast-growing population without finding a way to build the houses that population needs, the housebuilders who limit supply to keep prices up, or perhaps the central bankers who have kept interest rates too low for too long. The UK’s politicians have an easier scapegoat in mind: Second-home owners and in particular holiday homeowners. Get rid of these selfish house-hoggers and things will be much, much better, they say, particularly in the rural and coastal areas where wages are low and full-time residents can’t afford to compete with those who come seasonally.

QOSHE - You Get a Summer House, I Get a Summer House - Merryn Somerset Webb
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You Get a Summer House, I Get a Summer House

5 1
19.04.2024

The UK is in the grip of a nasty housing crisis. House price-to-earnings multiples are still near record highs — and not coming down in a hurry. The latest numbers show house prices are down marginally over the last year but that they still jumped 0.7% in........

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