Monday, Jan 21, 2008
Warning: journalist talks sense on the housing market
The Herald: My 7-Point Plan to End the Housing Crisis
Great article by Iain McWhirter in the Glasgow Herald outlining a common-sense plan that would go a long way towards ending the crazy housing boom without making the whole country suffer along with the ruined speculators: better credit regulation, an end to BTL tax breaks, a reform of planning regulations and ending right-to-buy. The only shame is that his plan makes so much sense, it will be ignored by any politician with any influence... as all sensible plans are.
Posted by an bearin bui @ 12:36 PM (524 views) Add Comment
12 Comments
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1. bystander said...
Great Article.
2. yorkshireman said...
An excellent article, which I suspect will make very uncomfortable reading for VI's. Then, the truth does tend to hurt.
3. Johnnyp said...
great article 100% spot on . lets hope for changes ahead after prices collapse.....
4. paul said...
I'm impressed
5. jack c said...
Very good article but little chance of the ideas being implemented as the VI's and Gov't dont want the UK housing market to implode.
6. Icarus said...
Just one quibble. "Lending had got completely out of control and (the banks) realise this now". They knew all along what they were doing. It's like the thief's "I stole the money, I did wrong and I realise this now".
7. Loneranger said...
What an excellent article! This is the first common sense plan I have seen since the sub-prime crisis unveiled itself around the Northern Rock debacle! Like other bloggers on this site. I too doubt that our trusted government will take heed, far too much of a risk on their part at losing/repaying any 'back hander/brown envelope' arrangements that have been in place, of which 'bought' a relaxation in rules for extending credit to those that could not afford to repay in order to keep the economy going etc
8. hpwatcher said...
well, too late for any of that now.
9. su said...
I also like Vronsky's additional suggestions (in the comments).
10. Cstanhope707 said...
Great article but we also need to reform the House Buying and selling process....
11. drewster said...
Hear hear!
Although I think I hear the sound of journalists suggesting that the stable doors ought to be pushed closed. Where was his seven-point plan many years ago, to prevent the boom in the first place? Anyone would think this was the first housing boom-and-bust the country had ever seen.
Not sure I agree with point #5 either. Is he saying we should just throw out the greenbelt and build unsustainable developments with low-density suburban American-style sprawl? That'd cause havoc to the traffic patterns. I know the greenbelt is a contentious issue on here, but we should be wary of scrapping our carefully-placed safeguards. The only reason Tesco gets away with it is because their army of lawyers can defeat almost any local council's planning department.
"Fifthly, make housing an economic objective of the planning laws. At present you can build any number of out-of-town shopping centres, because they create jobs, but you can't build houses. Houses are just as important as Tesco supermarkets. Local authorities should be given emergency planning powers to zone land for house building and ordered to provide infrastructure."
12. su said...
That's a good point, Drewster.
But why do supermarkets want to build in out-of-town areas? I would have thought they would do more business within or near to a housing estate. Who wants to get stuck in a traffic jam on the bypass every weekend just to get the weekly groceries?