4 ms·
I'm yet to see any resident going to council meetings complaining that the streets are too clean, that public transportation is too good. I don't think most peo
by cataphract 8y ago
I'm yet to see any resident going to council meetings complaining that the streets are too clean, that public transportation is too good. I don't think most people connect the two things, plus a good chunk of the residents are property owners and would prefer the land value to go up. Finally, I also doubt that the improvement of public services is the main factor driving land prices up. For instance, here is Lisbon, it's mostly due to the foreigners buying up the stock (more than half the buyers are foreigners). I suspect the cause is similar in London.
- lmm 8y ago> I'm yet to see any resident going to council meetings complaining that the streets are too clean, that public transportation is too good. You'll see them complaining that rents are too high. And you'll see them objecting that better public transportation would "change the character of the neighbourhood" or whatever, which tends to be code for pushing up the rents. > Finally, I also doubt that the improvement of public services is the main factor driving land prices up. For instance, here is Lisbon, it's mostly due to the foreigners buying up the stock (more than half the buyers are foreigners). I suspect the cause is similar in London. No respectable economist agrees with you. Foreign investors are a bogeyman who are easy to blame for everything since they're not there to defend themselves.
- crazygringo 8y agoThe main factor is neither public services nor foreign investors. It's economic growth. With the exception of retirement communities, it's locally-situated companies producing more value, hiring more employees, paying them more, which results in those employees wanting nicer homes, nicer neighborhoods and better public services. And why shouldn't they?