Friday, Dec 11, 2009
Some ministers think it's all over..........
Moneymarketing: Housing minister says homeownership dream may be over
Housing minister John Healey says the era of Britons aspiring to own their own home may be coming to an end as people find it increasingly difficult to get onto the housing ladder. In a speech to the Fabian Society earlier this week, Healey said homeownership had declined for the first time ever from 70.9 per cent of all households in 2003 to 68.3 per cent today but that this was not “such a bad thing.” He also said that Labour should tackle the culture of parents helping their children onto the housing ladder because it compounds inequality over the generations and is unfair.
Posted by jack c @ 03:12 PM (2847 views) Add Comment
24 Comments
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1. cynicalsoothsayer said...
LOL at the comments. What none of them point out is that the impending inevitable house price crash will make houses affordable to far more of the population than those with BOMADs. Also, the ending of the second home tax break in the budget will accelerate the crash towards affordability.
2. mark wadsworth said...
"He also said that Labour should tackle the culture of parents helping their children onto the housing ladder because it compounds inequality over the generations and is unfair."
Not necessarily. If the current generation of home-owners really and sincerely believed that having more home-owners is A Good THing (and they don't really, they just say that they do) and wanted their children to be able to afford to buy a house (even though many parents or grandparents cannot afford to play BOMAD), then they could do this at a stroke by not being NIMBYs.
Sure, your kids wouldn't necessarily buy a house close to where you live, but it would all even out. British sense of fair play restored. Problem solved. (well, land value tax would help as well, of course).
3. Teeth said...
This is really discussing the core of the problem. House ownership is subsidised through the tax system but it provides no economic benefit at all. In fact, it lowers labour-mobility. It is just a tax dodge that works as a giant pyramid scheme. If people were forced to save in another way by, say, compulsory pensions and/or compulsory health insurance, this would be actually useful. However, when all the babyboomers have to sell to fund a pension, the game is up. So shared-equity is his suggestion. How about just cheapen housing by taxing it properly? Problem is...how many more people would then need state support after being sucked into the system? Layers of conflicted interests make government action in this area unlikely. The Tories won't act either.
4. shipbuilder said...
He should have saved his speechwriter the effort and just told us to 'know our place'.
5. will said...
The majority of the French do not own their own homes - but their house prices remain far lower.
6. enuii said...
Ah, but will you have enough income from your pension or if you are lucky savings to rent when you are retired?
7. stillthinking said...
Although I am sure that many parents will help with cash, I think the role for many is risk their own homes by guaranteeing their offsprings debt. Must be happening, but I have never read of it, that parents either end up repossessed themselves or back to square one on their mortgage when little Pudkins blows up on his one bedroom property dream. Not exactly a wealth transfer, more like a generational wipe out.
But anyway, wrong end of the stick and Healey soon gone (I hope), thank god.
8. smugdog said...
Healey will not be "soon gone". The "new" new Labour road show is gathering pace once more.
Look at the glint in Gordon's eye today.
9. mark wadsworth said...
Ennui: "Ah, but will you have enough income from your pension or if you are lucky savings to rent when you are retired?"
How do you think they manage in all those countries where the rate of home-ownership is much lower, like Germany or France or Switzerland? If houses are cheaper then you have more money left over to save up a bigger pension to pay the rent. The same argument applies to Land Value Tax, of course. Most pensions are paid out of taxation anyway - so all LVT would do is mean that home-owning pensioners get some of their pension clawed back.
10. inbreda said...
7. smugdog said...Look at the glint in Gordon's eye today.
that would be polished glass smugdog. Labour are dead. There are a lot of people hurting at the moment
11. Priest_rocker said...
Hi will,
check this link; The french housing market is not much more affordable than the UK one
http://www.immobilier-danger.com/IMG/immo_France_USA_UK.jpg
12. enuii said...
Mark, since when have a good proportion of the UK been able to save or pay enough into a pension.
Provision for old age is another of the UK's problems that our self centered political elite like to conveniently ignore!
13. Njp said...
If houses will remain too expensive to buy, but rents will remain low enough for people to afford, then someone has to pay the difference.
For the last few years, that's been BTL investors. Can anyone really see that continuing?
14. happy mondays said...
I bet John Healey has got a nice home, or 2 !
15. mark wadsworth said...
Ennui "Mark, since when have a good proportion of the UK been able to save or pay enough into a pension?"
Obviously, having to hand over every penny of your free income in order to buy a below average house prevents people from being able to save up anything else. It's one or the other. But the experience of other countries shows that low rates of home ownership, low house prices, higher property taxes etc are no reason to expect 'pensioner poverty'.
16. mander said...
"But you don’t need to be a grocer’s daughter to know that it’s not a good idea to have all your eggs in one basket" It is dangerous for our future economy to keep it focusing on property. Special and talented people move the country forward and these talented people are not necessarily to be found in property or finance.
17. crunchy said...
12. mark wadsworth, well said.
It also frees up money for one to 'invest in pensions and industry.' THE RUB.....
I guess the banks would rather loan fiat money to those ends.
18. crunchy said...
"What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive."
19. the number cruncher said...
Crunchy... What a tangled web we do weave when first we practice to keep out true opinions so well disguised...
20. crunchy said...
16. the number cruncher
The perils of treading where most dare not go. I call it trying to get round the conditioning, but I don't always carry it off.
Fun to try though.
21. the number cruncher said...
To fly beyond the boundaries of convention is to fly indeed. I try to think to the very limits of my mind
22. crunchy said...
Good night NC, it's been a long day.
23. Vion said...
WE ARE ALL MUGS!!!
A housing minister who says it is 'not a bad thing' that many people cannot afford to climb on the property ladder has made an £88,000 profit by selling his taxpayer-funded second home.
John Healey sold the London flat in July after spending thousands in public funds on renovations.
24. Jayk said...
"LOL at the comments. What none of them point out is that the impending inevitable house price crash will make houses affordable to far more of the population than those with BOMADs."
I've read comments like this every day for 26 months. Precisely when is this "crash" coming? It's always "Haha, next year! You'll see!". Well, next year came and went, twice, and still no crash. Pull yourself into the real world.