David Cameron's Secret Plan To Cut Uk's £149Bn Debt By Selling Off Property

[interestrateripoff]

My http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/constructionandproperty/8054350/David-Camerons-secret-plan-to-cut-UKs-149bn-debt-by-selling-off-property.html

Prime Minister David Cameron is understood to have written to all ministers demanding they produce an inventory of the property in their spending departments, including lengths of leases and occupants.

The Office for National Statistics estimates that government property is worth about £370bn. However, there is no comprehensive register of the entire portfolio and some City experts believe the estate could be worth £500bn.

The Shareholder Executive, the body responsible for realising value from state-owned assets, has been tasked with co-ordinating the government-wide attempt to maximise returns from its property portfolio.

Its work is being led by John McCready, the Ernst & Young senior partner hired last December to head a new property unit at the Executive.

The Government's property plan, which is at a relatively early stage, coincides with a crackdown on Whitehall waste being spearheaded by Bhs-owner Sir Philip Green.

The retail entrepreneur will on Monday publish his report into how civil servants have wasted hundreds of millions of pounds through such things as renting empty offices and allowing each police force to source its own uniforms.

The previous government commissioned Labour peer Lord Carter of Coles to report on the value locked up in state-owned property.

He found it could expect to make about £20bn from disposals over the next 10 years and a further £5bn in annual savings by the end of the period.

However, Mr Cameron has brought fresh urgency to the project and expanded it beyond assets already managed by the Executive – including Royal Mail, the Met Office and the British Waterways Authority – to include all government property.

One source familiar with the project said: "The idea is that responsibility should be centralised in one place but there is still a huge amount of work to do. It's being taken very seriously but it's not easy."

A cunning plan if I ever saw one, we just have to hope property values don't collapse....

The only problem is when you run out of property to sell what will the govt do make up for the short fall in property sales income to plug the gap?

[Bloo Loo]

and for next years deficit, we are going to.......

[Snugglybear]

Also, who are they going to sell the property to? Have I not read that commercial property prices have plummeted? Would that be because there's less demand for it?

They might shift some of the property in London, but I doubt they'll sell much outside the capital.

I went round and round the centre of Bristol on Saturday (don't ask). There is so much office space to let in the city centre and they're still building.

Or perhaps the Government is hoping to sell off the sites for housing development.

[fluffy666]

A cunning plan if I ever saw one, we just have to hope property values don't collapse....

Oh, I'm sure that Cameron's mates from Eton are hoping for a price collapse first... flogging off prime state assets at a fraction of their value to your mates is a classic tactic after creating a false panic about deficits. Ask any Russian oligarch.

The only problem is when you run out of property to sell what will the govt do make up for the short fall in property sales income to plug the gap?

.. which has suddenly grown larger due to the need to lease back the buildings you just sold off? That's simple, just shut down all public services...

[Pent Up]

Also, who are they going to sell the property to? Have I not read that commercial property prices have plummeted? Would that be because there's less demand for it?

They might shift some of the property in London, but I doubt they'll sell much outside the capital.

I went round and round the centre of Bristol on Saturday (don't ask). There is so much office space to let in the city centre and they're still building.

Or perhaps the Government is hoping to sell off the sites for housing development.

I was in the area around Barbican London last weekend and just about every shop had an office space to let sign above it!

[Kyoto]

I have to say this seems like a good way of bringing in some funds.

If we're skint and sitting on £300bn of property, surely it makes sense to move that into the private sector to put a hole in the deficit.

Note, this does not mean sell it to Northern Rock, RBS, Lloyds etc!

Edited October 11, 2010 by Kyoto

[Realistbear]

I have an idea for a slogan for the next few years that will help solve our economic probelms, it could be made into a bumper sticker and should be a popular catch phrase like "Every little helps" etc.

Here it is:

SELL PROPERTY and DO IT NOW

sponsored by housepricecrash.co.uk

Edited October 11, 2010 by Realistbear

['Bart']

and for next years deficit, we are going to.......

Exactly. It's like Mr. Bean asking the savers to keep the flaccid bubble from collapsing. What happens when their savings have all been spent?

David Cameron's Secret Plan To Cut Uk's £149Bn Debt

That's not the debt, only this year's spending deficit. The national debt ranges from an official estimate of nearly a trillion pounds to other estimates of between 4 and 5 trillion.

[Bloo Loo]

I have to say this seems like a good way of bringing in some funds.

If we're skint and sitting on £300bn of property, surely it makes sense to move that into the private sector to put a hole in the deficit.

Note, this does not mean sell it to Northern Rock, RBS, Lloyds etc!

sounds like the same theory as PFI to me.

The very idea of owning property is to make it cheaper to do things.

selling that advantage is not productive....only if your use for it has ended.

[aa3]

This could be a brilliant plan. There is almost endless crown land.. imagine what just 1000 acres would fetch if near a major city? And came with the ability to develop it into subdivisions however the developer watned?

You could comfortably with room to spare put 2,000 homes on 1,000 acres with full infrastructure. If they made £50k per lot, that is £100 million for that 1000 acres.

[Kyoto]

sounds like the same theory as PFI to me.

The very idea of owning property is to make it cheaper to do things.

selling that advantage is not productive....only if your use for it has ended.

In any normal market, yes. Today, not so sure. I bet it will take decades before this move ends up being a net cost.

The Green report covered here at the weekend also pointed out lots of unused public sector space. That is only going to grow with coming cuts.

[pyracantha]

and for next years deficit, we are going to.......

Sell the crown jewels? Reduce the number of royalty on the state list? Punt some of the royal residences?

[xux42]

and for next years deficit, we are going to.......

I thought that.

However, how about this? Maybe the Tories are planning to sell this property (also relieving them of management costs)..

..and still make the same deep public service cuts.

We are talking about Tories here remember, not Lie-bore.

Rubbish time to sell though.

Do agree that selling off lots of govt. owned green fields for housing would have a beneficial effect on improved supply.

[non frog]

Also, who are they going to sell the property to? ....

Banks and other institutional investors who then lease it back to the government as a nice big fat, guaranteed, rent. Thus increasing tax liabilities for ever. These institutions being the same ones we have just bailed out and are now making fat with QE cash. More million pound bonuses in 2011.

[Confounded]

My http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/constructionandproperty/8054350/David-Camerons-secret-plan-to-cut-UKs-149bn-debt-by-selling-off-property.html

A cunning plan if I ever saw one, we just have to hope property values don't collapse....

The only problem is when you run out of property to sell what will the govt do make up for the short fall in property sales income to plug the gap?

Who will buy this property?

It can not be done without correcting and then over correcting the price of property probably resulting in them getting 50% or less of the total they were expecting..

It is a bit like the numpties who say we have made a profit on the bank shares....

[@contradevian]

Sounds like a good idea, but you know this is the UK Government. They will end up renting it back at huge cost, from some dodgy crony offshore trust fund, a bit like HMRC are doing now with their properties.

[@contradevian]

Sounds like a good idea, but you know this is the UK Government.

They will end up renting it back at huge cost, from some dodgy crony managed offshore trust fund, a bit like HMRC are doing now with their properties, and yet another bunch of City spivs will end up minted again.

Future rents will be offshored and untaxed and will never surface again.

There is bound to be a bung in it for some ex Etonian, banksta somewhere. Its the right thing to do.

Edited October 11, 2010 by Sir John Steed

[@contradevian]

Also, who are they going to sell the property to?

You really have to ask?

More than likely a bank. And where will the bank get the money from?

Altogether now!

Printy Printy!

[Olebrum]

This gets funnier and funnier. Their childlike obsession with treating the deficit like an

overdraft was bad enough. Now they think they can sort things out down the pawn shop.

[Tired of Waiting]

My http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/constructionandproperty/8054350/David-Camerons-secret-plan-to-cut-UKs-149bn-debt-by-selling-off-property.html

A cunning plan if I ever saw one, we just have to hope property values don't collapse....

The only problem is when you run out of property to sell what will the govt do make up for the short fall in property sales income to plug the gap?

Sell the whole lot within this parliament. If they don't, the next Labour government will anyway.

[fluffy666]

I thought that.

However, how about this? Maybe the Tories are planning to sell this property (also relieving them of management costs)..

..and still make the same deep public service cuts.

We are talking about Tories here remember, not Lie-bore.

Rubbish time to sell though.

Do agree that selling off lots of govt. owned green fields for housing would have a beneficial effect on improved supply.

Stopping greenfield development is Tory policy, at least where I live..

In theory, yes, a comprehensive review identifying genuinely unused or underutilized property with no realistic future plan for use, in a transparent manner, could probably find a significant source of property to sell off. However, you KNOW that in practice, the buildings identified will 'just happen' to be those in prime locations, and 'a consortium' will magically appear to buy them (no relation honest guv), and after the deal has been signed, the government will agree to keep renting for a few years whilst identifying the best place to relocate to..

[montesquieu]

Could be a 'really bright idea at the time' to match Broon's sell off of the gold reserves ....

[Custard Insurance]

and for next years deficit, we are going to.......

Rent the army out to the Taliban?

[Tired of Waiting]

Could be a 'really bright idea at the time' to match Broon's sell off of the gold reserves ....

If the bubble prices were the "normal level", and current low prices are just temporary, then your point would be correct.

[The Masked Tulip]

I await the Mail or Express headline 'Buck house for sale!'.