7 ms·

Not just the USA The housing situation in the UK is beyond critical.

LatteLazy 4y ago
The UK's problems are about distribution not supply. We subsidise OAPs to sit alone in 4 bed houses in areas that need workers, then there is no space or money left for working families...
- davidf18 4y ago
- tmnvix 4y ago
  > ...distribution not supply This is true in more than just the UK. It's also not simply old people living in oversized houses. Think holiday homes, AirBnB, second homes, land-banked properties, etc. Any government that truly wanted to address it's accommodation crisis should start by conducting a thorough survey of residences and determine how many are actually being used as a primary residence.
chrisseaton 4y ago
I think it’s still possible to actually get housing in the UK, it’s just more expensive than you’d like. (There’s lots on the market near me.) Look at somewhere like Ireland where it’s getting to the point where there almost literally just isn’t any housing available at all. Lines of hundreds of people applying to get any property that comes onto the market.
rcarr 4y ago
It's absolutely ridiculous now. It was also in the news today that net migration was 504,000 this year. I absolutely think it was the right thing to do (mostly refugees from Ukraine and Hong Kong) but if you're going to have these migration policies and you've got a housing supply and affordability crisis, you've absolutely got to implement mass house building policies at the same time. This government is an absolute joke but I have very little faith that Starmer is going to be much better. My plan is to leave whilst I still can. Source: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/net-migration-at-record-levels-as-1-1-million-arrive-in-britain-zfs0xvp6t https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/net-migration-at-record-l...
- Aeolun 4y ago
  But where will you go? Housing is ridiculous everywhere (except maybe Japan).
  - rcarr 4y ago
    At the minute I’m leaning towards going to Australia to take advantage of the new 3 year Working Holiday Visa for uk citizens. I’ll probably get a campervan over there and do the whole nomad thing for a while or just rent for a bit. After that I’m not sure, options I’m weighing up atm: - study German over the next few years and then study in Germany (free or extremely low cost tuition) - as above but in Argentina or another Latin American country (have already been studying Spanish for a couple of years so not far off the standard required) - rent in Ireland for five years (can live and work there visa free as UK citizen), become a naturalised citizen then move anywhere I want in the EU - move to Glasgow or Belfast where property is cheaper and the people are friendlier. - do the whole digital nomad thing in more affordable countries like Thailand, Bali, Mexico etc The only thing I know for sure is I am absolutely done with England and don’t want to be part of it anymore.
- fy20 4y ago
  A better way to look at it is how much is immigration of wealthy people propping up the UK economy? If you look at the number of new £1m+ apartments in London (which even if you are a couple of well paid engineers you probably could not get a mortgage for), then it paints a pretty stark picture.
  - rcarr 4y ago
    My understanding is that these apartments aren’t generally purchased by immigrants but by non-resident investors who just want a safe asset to park money in and take advantage of the ridiculous never ending house price inflation. They know that the government will never take any steps to correct the market because the severity of the after effects would make it electoral suicide. So London is just filled with tons of empty apartments and houses.

The UK's problems are about distribution not supply. We subsidise OAPs to sit alone in 4 bed houses in areas that need workers, then there is no space or money left for working families...

davidf18 4y ago
tmnvix 4y ago
> ...distribution not supply This is true in more than just the UK. It's also not simply old people living in oversized houses. Think holiday homes, AirBnB, second homes, land-banked properties, etc. Any government that truly wanted to address it's accommodation crisis should start by conducting a thorough survey of residences and determine how many are actually being used as a primary residence.

chrisseaton 4y ago

I think it’s still possible to actually get housing in the UK, it’s just more expensive than you’d like. (There’s lots on the market near me.) Look at somewhere like Ireland where it’s getting to the point where there almost literally just isn’t any housing available at all. Lines of hundreds of people applying to get any property that comes onto the market.

rcarr 4y ago

It's absolutely ridiculous now. It was also in the news today that net migration was 504,000 this year. I absolutely think it was the right thing to do (mostly refugees from Ukraine and Hong Kong) but if you're going to have these migration policies and you've got a housing supply and affordability crisis, you've absolutely got to implement mass house building policies at the same time. This government is an absolute joke but I have very little faith that Starmer is going to be much better. My plan is to leave whilst I still can. Source: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/net-migration-at-record-levels-as-1-1-million-arrive-in-britain-zfs0xvp6t https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/net-migration-at-record-l...

Aeolun 4y ago
But where will you go? Housing is ridiculous everywhere (except maybe Japan).
- rcarr 4y ago
  At the minute I’m leaning towards going to Australia to take advantage of the new 3 year Working Holiday Visa for uk citizens. I’ll probably get a campervan over there and do the whole nomad thing for a while or just rent for a bit. After that I’m not sure, options I’m weighing up atm: - study German over the next few years and then study in Germany (free or extremely low cost tuition) - as above but in Argentina or another Latin American country (have already been studying Spanish for a couple of years so not far off the standard required) - rent in Ireland for five years (can live and work there visa free as UK citizen), become a naturalised citizen then move anywhere I want in the EU - move to Glasgow or Belfast where property is cheaper and the people are friendlier. - do the whole digital nomad thing in more affordable countries like Thailand, Bali, Mexico etc The only thing I know for sure is I am absolutely done with England and don’t want to be part of it anymore.
fy20 4y ago
A better way to look at it is how much is immigration of wealthy people propping up the UK economy? If you look at the number of new £1m+ apartments in London (which even if you are a couple of well paid engineers you probably could not get a mortgage for), then it paints a pretty stark picture.
- rcarr 4y ago
  My understanding is that these apartments aren’t generally purchased by immigrants but by non-resident investors who just want a safe asset to park money in and take advantage of the ridiculous never ending house price inflation. They know that the government will never take any steps to correct the market because the severity of the after effects would make it electoral suicide. So London is just filled with tons of empty apartments and houses.