If society doesn’t want so many rental
properties, then society has to disincentivize rental properties and incentivize single homeownership!
Then, they need to open up land on the edge of towns, where there is still a good transportation infrastructure and allow housing to be built. Specify what will and will not gain planning permission, and let the market take over.
Creat “enterprise zones” for builders, such that they receive tax/govt breaks for building cheaper, lower profit homes and then have a “first time buyer” low down payment, low interest, fixed rate mortgage program to get them into the homes.
In England, it seems like the tax system is often used to be punitive, whereas it can also be used to be beneficial in advancing the agenda of the govt/general population.
In addition, “permission impossible” needs to be put to bed.
I fly over the UK all the time and to think there are 60 million people all squeezed into such high density living given the amount of open space seems ridiculous.
Of course, there needs to be green space, but that shouldn’t mean nothing can be built anywhere!
I looked into buying a plot for a home we could use when we come over, as we approach retirement. The hurdles, from buying the land to getting ANY KIND OF PERMISSION FOR ALMOST ANYTHING was eye watering!
Another time, we were out walking and I saw a farmers field. My Sis-in-Law works in commercial real estate. I said, “I wonder what that farmer would sell that 2 acre grass field for?” She just laughed and told me if I had thoughts of ever wanting to build a house there I was mental and that the only thing that field was good for was hay or grazing.
I understand the need for zoning, but the strangulation on supply as demand continues to increase is playing into the hands of a few at the expense of many. That expense, in my mind, is far greater than any expense that would come from converting “close in” selective green space into building use. Even if only one or two homes per acre, the taxes and fees can be used to help subsidize lower cost homes elsewhere.
Any society needs a nice mix of residential
Properties, but with so much of the housing stock in England being an outgrowth of long since past growth periods, when terracing and (at best) semi-detached homes were built, it begs for greater supply.
One of the problems now, of course, is that the recent spurt of inflation has increased the price of the raw materials of construction at the same time as construction wages have had to increase to help cover inflation. All of this has made housing even more expensive even without the significant force of demand.
Good luck, Labour! I hope you can help start fixing this problem with targeted tax relief and increases…such as an increase in tax on rental income or a reduction in taxes on purchases of single family homes.