Why do we have such a housing problem in the UK
Discussion
I am some what new to this issue but I really do not understand why we have such a housing shortage in the UK and why it isn't as easy as "build more houses"
Time and time again across different programmes news articles I see, what I feel is a housing pandemic; people either cannot afford to buy or rent a place a lot, there are people who can just about pay for it by stretching themselves to kingdom come then there is the 3-1% minority who have no issue at all.
Why does the government/industry not just have a push to say right we will build X amount of houses over the next 5 years. Why is the residential zones not extended so we can build on land sitting there doing nothing what so ever.
The government just seem to make it so difficult. why?
Time and time again across different programmes news articles I see, what I feel is a housing pandemic; people either cannot afford to buy or rent a place a lot, there are people who can just about pay for it by stretching themselves to kingdom come then there is the 3-1% minority who have no issue at all.
Why does the government/industry not just have a push to say right we will build X amount of houses over the next 5 years. Why is the residential zones not extended so we can build on land sitting there doing nothing what so ever.
The government just seem to make it so difficult. why?
jeevescat said:
Growth in UK population requires the equivalent of building a city the size of Cardiff every year.
There's your problem.
So whats the solution? a new world order and just kill off a few million people each year?There's your problem.
Surely there must be some solution being generated by someone to make living in a house the ultimate be all end all goal of a UK citizen?
Surely it should be a manageable thing to achieve.
Because those members of the public who already have houses are desperately keen that more houses not be built. Great guys.
Then the government panders to them, and makes it hard to build new houses.
There's plenty of space for more houses, and plenty of people who'd gladly build them. They just aren't allowed to.
Then the government panders to them, and makes it hard to build new houses.
There's plenty of space for more houses, and plenty of people who'd gladly build them. They just aren't allowed to.
jeevescat said:
Growth in UK population requires the equivalent of building a city the size of Cardiff every year.
There's your problem.
So where do they all go? Actually building new cities from scratch sounds a good idea, planned with proper infrastructure for the 21st century it could be amazing. It would also generate thousands of jobs. Far better than keep tacking housing estates around every town and village surely?There's your problem.
SpeckledJim said:
Because those members of the public who already have houses are desperately keen that more houses not be built. Great guys.
Then the government panders to them, and makes it hard to build new houses.
There's plenty of space for more houses, and plenty of people who'd gladly build them. They just aren't allowed to.
This is an issue I have personally felt. Anyone ever tried to find land for a new build? Ha! Good Luck. Then the government panders to them, and makes it hard to build new houses.
There's plenty of space for more houses, and plenty of people who'd gladly build them. They just aren't allowed to.
Even a simple concept to manage space would be for the government to have say 10 arcres at a time, split it into 0.1acre (smaller or larger as required) and sell them to people to build their own homes. Surely it would create jobs, open more businesses providing different style homes etc etc.
House prices by all intend are plain bloody stupid.
IATM said:
Time and time again across different programmes news articles I see, what I feel is a housing pandemic;
Notice the story about house shortages usually comes before or after a story about the amount of people moving to the UK? Must just be coincidence.Im of the opinion i would like our borders closed (or partially closed, a la Canada/Australia), so that we can maximise the amount of green space we have left in the Uk for as long as possible. Slower population increase = slower need for more houses = cheaper prices
The UK is now officially the most densely populated country in the EU, having just overtaken the Netherlands for that dubious title. Try putting a development almost anywhere, in the UK, and you will be up against hordes of nimby`s, greens, friends of the Earth, no development in our village protestors etc, screaming at you for concreting over even more of the UK.
Perhaps with all the noise about immigration it would be wise to look at countries such as Sweden, which is 3 times the size of the UK, but with a population of just 6.5 million
people, compared to the smaller UK`s 67.4 million (and still rapidly rising)
Perhaps we could ship around 60 million UK citizens to New Zealand, on the simple premise that living conditions there, are better than they are here (it is after all a stunningly beautiful place to live) as this would balance the populations in both countries (they only have a little over 4.5 million people) Except try emigrating to New Zealand and see how far you get with `their' immigration rules.
Of course if we applied the same conditions as here, anyone should just be able to walk in, and do there whatever they did over here. Only it seems that way of getting into a country only applies to here.
Perhaps with all the noise about immigration it would be wise to look at countries such as Sweden, which is 3 times the size of the UK, but with a population of just 6.5 million
people, compared to the smaller UK`s 67.4 million (and still rapidly rising)
Perhaps we could ship around 60 million UK citizens to New Zealand, on the simple premise that living conditions there, are better than they are here (it is after all a stunningly beautiful place to live) as this would balance the populations in both countries (they only have a little over 4.5 million people) Except try emigrating to New Zealand and see how far you get with `their' immigration rules.
Of course if we applied the same conditions as here, anyone should just be able to walk in, and do there whatever they did over here. Only it seems that way of getting into a country only applies to here.
SpeckledJim said:
Because those members of the public who already have houses are desperately keen that more houses not be built. Great guys.
Then the government panders to them, and makes it hard to build new houses.
There's plenty of space for more houses, and plenty of people who'd gladly build them. They just aren't allowed to.
There's also plenty of houses for sale now, check out Rightmove. The problem is the price.Then the government panders to them, and makes it hard to build new houses.
There's plenty of space for more houses, and plenty of people who'd gladly build them. They just aren't allowed to.
Dave_ST220 said:
SpeckledJim said:
Because those members of the public who already have houses are desperately keen that more houses not be built. Great guys.
Then the government panders to them, and makes it hard to build new houses.
There's plenty of space for more houses, and plenty of people who'd gladly build them. They just aren't allowed to.
There's also plenty of houses for sale now, check out Rightmove. The problem is the price.Then the government panders to them, and makes it hard to build new houses.
There's plenty of space for more houses, and plenty of people who'd gladly build them. They just aren't allowed to.
The houses you see for sale on rightmove (nearly) all have people already living in them. Those sales do nothing to increase capacity.
SpeckledJim said:
The high price is a function of the scarcity of new, empty houses.
In part yes, but there is also the factor of what it costs to build new. I wonder if someone on here might be able to spill the beans on what it 'might' be possible to build/sell a boggo, 3-bed semi for?FWIW, I don't understand why the UK doesn't do more with the supply of cheaper houses using cheaper, factory-manufactured methods, in the same way as McDonalds, for example, throw their building up.
MitchT said:
In my neck of the woods, because prices are too f
king high. Lots of people wanting houses, but also plenty of houses for sale. Wages and prices in totally different parts of the universe so never the twain shall meet.
As with most things the rule of supply and demand probably has an effect as well, If the numbers seeking accommodation in a particular area (especially one which has jobs available) outweigh the number of viable properties available, the price asked for those properties will rise. king high. Lots of people wanting houses, but also plenty of houses for sale. Wages and prices in totally different parts of the universe so never the twain shall meet.Meanwhile in some other parts of the country houses are being sold for just one pound, But no one wants to live there.
SpeckledJim said:
Because those members of the public who already have houses are desperately keen that more houses not be built. Great guys.
Then the government panders to them, and makes it hard to build new houses.
There's plenty of space for more houses, and plenty of people who'd gladly build them. They just aren't allowed to.
^^ Then the government panders to them, and makes it hard to build new houses.
There's plenty of space for more houses, and plenty of people who'd gladly build them. They just aren't allowed to.
Absolutely this.Pan Pan Pan said:
The UK is now officially the most densely populated country in the EU, having just overtaken the Netherlands for that dubious title. Try putting a development almost anywhere, in the UK, and you will be up against hordes of nimby`s, greens, friends of the Earth, no development in our village protestors etc, screaming at you for concreting over even more of the UK.
Perhaps with all the noise about immigration it would be wise to look at countries such as Sweden, which is 3 times the size of the UK, but with a population of just 6.5 million
people, compared to the smaller UK`s 67.4 million (and still rapidly rising)
Perhaps we could ship around 60 million UK citizens to New Zealand, on the simple premise that living conditions there, are better than they are here (it is after all a stunningly beautiful place to live) as this would balance the populations in both countries (they only have a little over 4.5 million people) Except try emigrating to New Zealand and see how far you get with `their' immigration rules.
Of course if we applied the same conditions as here, anyone should just be able to walk in, and do there whatever they did over here. Only it seems that way of getting into a country only applies to here.
Only 7% of the UK is developed / built upon. There is plenty of space for more houses and people. What there isn't is the infrastructure to move them around. Perhaps with all the noise about immigration it would be wise to look at countries such as Sweden, which is 3 times the size of the UK, but with a population of just 6.5 million
people, compared to the smaller UK`s 67.4 million (and still rapidly rising)
Perhaps we could ship around 60 million UK citizens to New Zealand, on the simple premise that living conditions there, are better than they are here (it is after all a stunningly beautiful place to live) as this would balance the populations in both countries (they only have a little over 4.5 million people) Except try emigrating to New Zealand and see how far you get with `their' immigration rules.
Of course if we applied the same conditions as here, anyone should just be able to walk in, and do there whatever they did over here. Only it seems that way of getting into a country only applies to here.
With the necessary road improvements we could double the number of people here with little personal impact to most people. Easier said than done, but not impossible once you have a legislative attitude of 'just get it done'.
IATM said:
jeevescat said:
Growth in UK population requires the equivalent of building a city the size of Cardiff every year.
There's your problem.
So whats the solution? a new world order and just kill off a few million people each year?There's your problem.
Surely there must be some solution being generated by someone to make living in a house the ultimate be all end all goal of a UK citizen?
Surely it should be a manageable thing to achieve.
Dave_ST220 said:
SpeckledJim said:
Because those members of the public who already have houses are desperately keen that more houses not be built. Great guys.
Then the government panders to them, and makes it hard to build new houses.
There's plenty of space for more houses, and plenty of people who'd gladly build them. They just aren't allowed to.
There's also plenty of houses for sale now, check out Rightmove. The problem is the price.Then the government panders to them, and makes it hard to build new houses.
There's plenty of space for more houses, and plenty of people who'd gladly build them. They just aren't allowed to.
Right, I feel able to comment being a regional developer! The problem isn't the developers and we don't generally land bank. The problem is the land owners and the process attached to planning. (although I don't blame the landowners)
15yrs ago you could apply for planning and get it in 13wks and start building immediately with no pre commencement conditions. Now you apply for planning get planning in 13wks then negotiate your S106 which could be anything with no target date, (I know of someone who is at 2yrs!) then once you have that you have to apply to remove your precommencement conditions (our record is 45!!!!) this then takes a further 6-12 wks. Once this is done you can then start contacting our frankly laughable utility providers to get approvals for drains etc this can be another 6mths easy. [I will say though Western Power are excellent, STW are st)
So that is a big issue and you have to look at risk and exposure when buying land with these timescales....
Now you come to one of the bigger issues - LAND
It is all privately held you therefore have to pay what someone wants to buy it to then develop it. There are huge swathes of the ex nottinghamshire coal fields that you can't afford to pay ANYTHING for the land as you can't afford to build the house, pay the planning gains( S106) and make a profit, ANY profit. these areas therefore do not get developed. The Southern orientated people don't see this the south east land is circa 50-70% of sale value my average in a normal area in the midlands can be as low as 12%
Even if the government gave planning every where landowners are in for the long haul generally as once they have sold they can't sell it again, it is the family silver. If they don't think they are getting enough they just won't sell as they can pass it to the next generation... hence no land.
Hope people find this interesting, but I do get fed up with developers generally be accused of land banking etc etc. We at the end of the day just buy stuff and build houses on it and sell them on as quickly as we can to reduce risk.
The best thing for the industry would be to get rid of all precommencement conditions and ensure when you get planning you can start the build, scrap Section 106s and just charge a new build tax based on sq ft rather than plots, even this would encourage starter homes which are currently actively discouraged because of the S106 calculation....
15yrs ago you could apply for planning and get it in 13wks and start building immediately with no pre commencement conditions. Now you apply for planning get planning in 13wks then negotiate your S106 which could be anything with no target date, (I know of someone who is at 2yrs!) then once you have that you have to apply to remove your precommencement conditions (our record is 45!!!!) this then takes a further 6-12 wks. Once this is done you can then start contacting our frankly laughable utility providers to get approvals for drains etc this can be another 6mths easy. [I will say though Western Power are excellent, STW are s
t)So that is a big issue and you have to look at risk and exposure when buying land with these timescales....
Now you come to one of the bigger issues - LAND
It is all privately held you therefore have to pay what someone wants to buy it to then develop it. There are huge swathes of the ex nottinghamshire coal fields that you can't afford to pay ANYTHING for the land as you can't afford to build the house, pay the planning gains( S106) and make a profit, ANY profit. these areas therefore do not get developed. The Southern orientated people don't see this the south east land is circa 50-70% of sale value my average in a normal area in the midlands can be as low as 12%
Even if the government gave planning every where landowners are in for the long haul generally as once they have sold they can't sell it again, it is the family silver. If they don't think they are getting enough they just won't sell as they can pass it to the next generation... hence no land.
Hope people find this interesting, but I do get fed up with developers generally be accused of land banking etc etc. We at the end of the day just buy stuff and build houses on it and sell them on as quickly as we can to reduce risk.
The best thing for the industry would be to get rid of all precommencement conditions and ensure when you get planning you can start the build, scrap Section 106s and just charge a new build tax based on sq ft rather than plots, even this would encourage starter homes which are currently actively discouraged because of the S106 calculation....
Pan Pan Pan said:
The UK is now officially the most densely populated country in the EU
Point of order. It isn't.https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/news/nr/uk-immigration...
"The UK is only the seventh most densely populated country in Europe."
4th most dense in the EU.
Gassing Station | News, Politics & Economics | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff