Saturday, Jun 21, 2008
Private Sector Leasing: Socialising Property Market Losses?
The Scotsman: Sellers finding ways round the housing crisis
"One option being taken by a growing number of frustrated Edinburgh property owners is the Private Sector Leasing (PSL) scheme. Run by Orchard & Shipman, the scheme – the largest of its kind in the UK – secures properties for the City of Edinburgh Council to offer to those in need of housing. Run since 2005 with the aim of 1,500 properties, 1,300 are on its books already." On the surface, this appears to be a roundabout way to get taxpayers to bail out those who can't sell their properties because we don't have enough social housing. Anybody know any better?
Posted by quiet guy @ 09:33 AM (399 views) Add Comment
2 Comments
- If you do not have an admin password leave the password field blank.
- If you would like to request a password allowing you to add comments and blog news articles without needing each one approved manually, send an e-mail to the webmaster.
- Your email address is required so we can verify that the comment is genuine. It will not be posted anywhere on the site, will be stored confidentially by us and never given out to any third party.
- Please note that any viewpoints published here as comments are user's views and not the views of HousePriceCrash.co.uk.
- Please adhere to the Guidelines
1. Yerhavingalaugh said...
PSL schemes certainly run in other areas too, particularly in London. There may well be an increase in the use of these to keep homelessness down. It certainly beats B & B or rough sleepers hostels for those who are the sharp end of the crisis!
2. icarus said...
So there's a "very healthy supply" of properties for sale. That's one way of putting it. Not sure of the benefits of £50k cashback to buyers rather than simply reducing the price by £50k - stamp duty is paid on an extra £50k worth of property in the former case. Not sure why the £50k cashback is so attractive - the buyer will need to have come up with that kind of sum at least for a deposit in the first place. Is there a way for the buyer to get the £50k cash early in the buying process so that it provides him or her with the deposit? Cashback and other sweeteners engineered by EAs obviously disguise the extent of HPC since a sale is dutifully recorded as, e.g., £500k instead of £450k. How many sales take place on this basis? I like the bit near the end of the article where the EA says the bulk of properties are still at last year's prices - but they're not selling.