Estimated 22,000 Empty Properties In London

[tyres]

‘It’s like a ghost town’: lights go out as foreign owners desert London homes

Absentee owners and the ‘buy to leave’ market are hurting businesses as housing rises up the political agenda in the capital

In the exclusive streets of Kensington and Chelsea, foreign buyers account for 20% of all property purchases in the last four years. The borough has the highest proportion of empty homes in the capital.

[The Eagle]

In a city of 8 million inhabitants 22,000 empty properties is actually not a lot.

EMPTY NESTS

■ There are thought to be about 700,000 “long-term empty” homes in the UK, calculated from local authority council tax data.

■ 22,000 of these are in London, down from 44,000 in 2004.

■ About 2% of homes in Kensington and Chelsea fall into this category, the 11th highest in the country. The top 10 are all in the north of England.

Edited January 27, 2015 by The Eagle

[TheCountOfNowhere]

How to solve Britains housing crisis:

1) Ban BTL

2) CPO all BTL houses

3) CPO all empty houses or 2nd homes

4) CPO all land banks and sell to individuals + build council houses.

5) Prosecute then Regulate the banker fraudsters

Edited January 27, 2015 by TheCountOfNowhere

[Guest_northshore_*]

Posted about it before, but a study of Mebourne in 2013 using water use data showed that 4.4% of residential and 23.2% of commercial is potentially vacant and unused. I doubt it's much different in our cities given the similarities in legal, social, housing policy incentive structures.

[Bloo Loo]

actually, 22,000 is quite a lot.

[Wurzel Of Highbridge]

How to solve Britains housing crisis:

1) Ban BTL

2) CPO all BTL houses

3) CPO all empty houses or 2nd homes

4) CPO all land banks and sell to individuals + build council houses.

5) Prosecute then Regulate the banker fraudsters

First step and only step required is banning MP's and their family from and property investment including primary residence which would be supplied by the state and reclaimed after death.

[Bloo Loo]

First step and only step required is banning MP's and their family from and property investment including primary residence which would be supplied by the state and reclaimed after death.

as house based lending is proven to be a ponzi scheme, then actually, lending using a house as collateral should be banned. This would halt the ponzi immediately.

[Allthatglitters]

Reminiscent of Tulipmania

[Venger]

as house based lending is proven to be a ponzi scheme, then actually, lending using a house as collateral should be banned. This would halt the ponzi immediately.

That's anti-capitalist. Maybe you can stop the borrowers, who are proud about taking on jumbo mortgages in their 60s, for higher end houses, made shock unemployed just afterwards. Buyers/borrowers make their own decisions.

http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/index.php?/topic/202018-christmas-is-cancelleda-little-anecdote/?p=1102627313

And there are other HPCers who feel such buyers have acted wisely - who are you to impose your anti-capitalist ways, stopping people from having the freedom to apply for debt?

7-8 years on from stopped HPC, hope when it (real HPC) comes around next time, you won't be doing an anti-capitalist victim-dance for the buyers who free-will chose to pay very high prices, again, as values begin falling. Yet I fear it will be all the victim stuff again, sacrificing generations in the lobbying for bailouts for idiots.

[Bloo Loo]

That's anti-capitalist. Maybe you can stop the borrowers, who are proud about taking on jumbo mortgages in their 60s, for higher end houses, made shock unemployed just afterwards. Buyers/borrowers make their own decisions.

http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/index.php?/topic/202018-christmas-is-cancelleda-little-anecdote/?p=1102627313

And there are other HPCers who feel such buyers have acted wisely - who are you to impose your anti-capitalist ways, stopping people from having the freedom to apply for debt?

7-8 years on from stopped HPC, hope when it (real HPC) comes around next time, you won't be doing an anti-capitalist victim-dance for the buyers who free-will chose to pay very high prices, again, as values begin falling. Yet I fear it will be all the victim stuff again, sacrificing generations in the lobbying for bailouts for idiots.

Ponzi isnt capitalism.

Its a criminal activity designed to make the scheme manager rich.

[Eddie_George]

How to solve Britains housing crisis:

1) Ban BTL

2) CPO all BTL houses

3) CPO all empty houses or 2nd homes

4) CPO all land banks and sell to individuals + build council houses.

5) Prosecute then Regulate the banker fraudsters

No need for such harsh measure IMO

1)Tax BTL/2nd homes more

2) Increase rights for renters - give them option of 5 year tenancy if desired

3) Landlord register

Then sit back and watch LLs run for exit and see house prices fall

[Venger]

Ponzi isnt capitalism.

Its a criminal activity designed to make the scheme manager rich.

Asset managers, other home-owners... a whole lot of market participants. My brother's friend has a family business which is a bridging loan company. They lend at higher rates using the borrower's real estate as collateral. What is wrong with that, when they mostly use a good margin for if the worst happens and they have to repo.

Bridging loan sector is crackling with activity at the moment - as market participants who choose to be involved in property at high prices, turn to bridging loan companies and alternative finance, where banks are much more reluctant. Although perhaps more bridging loan companies will go bankrupt into HPC.. that's fair enough too, and administrators pick up the debt to pursue against the homeowner, or sell it on, or loss elsewhere in financial system to the bridging loan company (bank shareholders etc) / or peer-to-peer investors for bonds paying high rates (money not covered by FSA like depositors) who are seeking yield with property companies.

http://bridgingloandirectory.co.uk/2014/08/05/omni-capital-funds-chelsea-island-acquisition/

http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-detail/11911728.html

http://www.bridgebankcapital.co.uk/bridging-news/bridgebank-capital-completes-10-8-million-central-london-bridging-loan-in-6-days/

http://www.mortgagestrategy.co.uk/news-and-features/sectors/bridging-and-secure-loans/bridging-and-secure-loans-news/fca-concerns-linger-over-the-bridging-market/2014336.article

This was a rare opportunity to acquire a prime development site in the heart of Chelsea. Not all lenders would have been able to provide multi-million funding, at such a high loan-to-value, for an undeveloped site.

Masthaven rescues client from defunct lender

August 5th, 2014

Masthaven Bridging Finance has helped clients of Savills Private Finance (SPF) refinance when faced with a demand from a bankrupt lender for the immediate return of a £2.3 million loan.

The clients own a property in the Enfield area of North London valued at £3.4 million and had initially applied to another bridging lender to replace the loan. However, having agreed to do the loan, the offer was withdrawn at the last minute because of a credit issue, even though it had been disclosed at the outset.

Masthaven was then approached by SPF to try and provide the service and thanks to the package of information provided by SPF, Masthaven was able to provide the necessary finance almost immediately and completed the £2.3 million loan.

http://www.masthaven.co.uk/news/

Dragonfly completes £1.2m bridge in three days

Mortgage Solutions | 29 Apr 2014 | 10:40

Dragonfly Property Finance is celebrating after completing a £1.2m bridging deal in three days.

The short-term lender completed the deal after a client had exchanged on a £3.1m property in London using a £775,000 deposit.

However, after the client's circumstances changed they were unable to obtain regulated mortgage finance but were also unable to pull out of the deal. The bridge, brokered by Positive Lending, then allowed the property owner to complete the purchase and sell the property on.

Paul McGonigle, director of Positive Lending, said: "Cases of clients buying off-plan and not being able to fund the balance is sadly not unique in today's market. However, it's rare for clients to be set to lose a £775,000 deposit, and with just three working days to complete the transaction we were left with a very tight deadline.

http://www.mortgagesolutions.co.uk/mortgage-solutions/news/2342058/dragonfly-completes-gbp12m-bridge-in-three-days

For your ponzi to continue it all requires buyers who have free-will, most of who apply for debt, in a market between buyers and sellers, setting values.

Just about every day, there are transactions at very high prices, the vast majority ordinary people as buyers. Your ponzi wouldn't exist without active willing buyers who have free-will, and make their own market decisions. You need to get a stomach for hpc, imo, not claimbuyers who set the ever higher prices were victims in full-on anti-HPC mode when it begins. I am going to be hard onto you if you begin doing victim dance for more recent buyers (and thus for older home-owners full of equity and all the BTLers) when the real HPC begins. Could hardly believe what I was reading in 2008-2010 about buyers who paid whacked out prices as being victims/media to blame etc. No way will I allow that to occur again without hard challenge, like before, as prices just begin to soften.

[silver surfer]

The article says there were 44,000 empty London homes in 2004, now down to 22,000. So the number of empty homes has halved in ten years. If it's a problem then it's a problem that's quickly disappearing.

The article also says there are 700,000 empty homes in the UK. 22,000 of them are in London. But London has about 14% of the population, so pro rata you'd expect about 100,000 empty homes in London, so London isn't the problem.

The article implies, but without substantiating figures, that the problem (such as it is) is disproportionately based in Kensington and Chelsea, driven by foreign buyers. Who cares about Kensington and Chelsea as real people don't live there. The issue is housing availability in Acton, Ealing, Dulwich, Camberwell, Holloway, Wembley, Clapham, Poplar...

According to the GLA there are about 3.2m households in London, so 22,000 empty properties represents less than 0.7% of the total. It's the equivalent of a home being vacant for one year out of each 140 years. If anything that sounds to me like London property is over utilised. I read this as solid evidence to support the view that there's a desperate shortage of London property and we urgently need a vigorous residential building programme.

[Venger]

The issue is that apart from the proposals to build more homes, many of the policies suggested or proposed just won’t work. The main reason being, without enough homes to house the nation at a price it can afford, whatever policies are introduced, they will just end up causing unintended consequences which could well make the situation worse.

There are over 2 million people over 50 living in London and around 1.25 million people over 60. Some need to think about downsizing, relocating, retiring to Greece etc, cashing in the speculation bubble hyper-equity, before others beat them to it, in a HPC - which brings down all values for all owners. (Into that HPC, no doubt others will be claiming all owners are victims, again, lobbying for bailouts and intervention).

[Bloo Loo]

Asset managers, other home-owners... a whole lot of market participants. My brother's friend has a family business which is a bridging loan company. They lend at higher rates using the borrower's real estate as collateral. What is wrong with that, when they mostly use a good margin for if the worst happens and they have to repo.

Bridging loan sector is crackling with activity at the moment - as market participants who choose to be involved in property at high prices, turn to bridging loan companies and alternative finance, where banks are much more reluctant. Although perhaps more bridging loan companies will go bankrupt into HPC.. that's fair enough too, and administrators pick up the debt to pursue against the homeowner, or sell it on, or loss elsewhere in financial system to the bridging loan company (bank shareholders etc) / or peer-to-peer investors for bonds paying high rates (money not covered by FSA like depositors) who are seeking yield with property companies.

http://bridgingloandirectory.co.uk/2014/08/05/omni-capital-funds-chelsea-island-acquisition/

http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-detail/11911728.html

http://www.bridgebankcapital.co.uk/bridging-news/bridgebank-capital-completes-10-8-million-central-london-bridging-loan-in-6-days/

http://www.mortgagestrategy.co.uk/news-and-features/sectors/bridging-and-secure-loans/bridging-and-secure-loans-news/fca-concerns-linger-over-the-bridging-market/2014336.article

For your ponzi to continue it all requires buyers who have free-will, most of who apply for debt, in a market between buyers and sellers, setting values.

Just about every day, there are transactions at very high prices, the vast majority ordinary people as buyers. Your ponzi wouldn't exist without active willing buyers who have free-will, and make their own market decisions. You need to get a stomach for hpc, imo, not claimbuyers who set the ever higher prices were victims in full-on anti-HPC mode when it begins. I am going to be hard onto you if you begin doing victim dance for more recent buyers (and thus for older home-owners full of equity and all the BTLers) when the real HPC begins. Could hardly believe what I was reading in 2008-2010 about buyers who paid whacked out prices as being victims/media to blame etc. No way will I allow that to occur again without hard challenge, like before, as prices just begin to soften.

bridging loans are for a time when you are supporting two properties at once.

If you have no mortgage on the first, the temporary loan would be to purchase the new house before proceeds of sale...same as now.

The Ponzi exists with willing participants just like any other criminal enterprise...people are fooled into thinking it is legitimate and of course, those nice bankers are there looking after them.

The essence of the best crime is that nobody notices.

[Venger]

bridging loans are for a time when you are supporting two properties at once.

If you have no mortgage on the first, the temporary loan would be to purchase the new house before proceeds of sale...same as now.

The Ponzi exists with willing participants just like any other criminal enterprise...people are fooled into thinking it is legitimate and of course, those nice bankers are there looking after them.

Not always that with bridging finance. The London off-plan buyers didn't have a property, but their bank refused to lend them to complete. Something I expect we will see more of (oh the victims eh).

Weak, and a precursor to the excuses soon into the next HPC. The people who tell me rent is dead money, and happily pay stupid high prices, are being fooled eh? They make their own market decisions if they think bankers and politicians will lock in the HPI and give them more for the future (requiring buyers paying higher prices).

Outright/equity rich owners being fooled are they, with hyperinflated equity gains, naff houses at £500K-£1,000,000 .... smug as anything, such low number of property on the market as so complacent it doesn't go down in value, and when it does, recovers quicky because of 'growing population' durr who can't afford to pay and face challenging circumstances for income. Oh they must all be fooled by.. by what exactly? Their own market decisions and viewpoints.

House prices will rise by 30% in five years, according to Rightmove and other market participants give it forever HPI.

Everyone makes their own market decision, including those in news/economists, buyers, owners who hold out for more HPI, BTLers and so on. Seems to me the people you have the most contempt for are those who make their decisions, can see prices are massively overvalued, and choose to wait for significant HPC, then you can give it all the excuses for those who were fooled by their own greed and decisions, when they lose equity. They were being fooled their homes were worth £1m as they were counting their HPI. Ridiculous. They can sell now if they want to, and bring some inventory to market. Not excuses for them into the HPC, and no one has to buy at super high prices either.

UK’s biggest property website believes market is not slowing down but predicts largest growth will be outside of London

The Guardian, Friday 10 October 2014

Britain’s biggest property website has rebuffed claims that the housing market is heading for a slowdown, with a forecast that prices will soar by 30% over the next five years to average £318,000 in England and Wales and more than £715,000 in London.

But for the first time in more than a decade, it will be markets outside the capital that lead the way in price rises, Rightmove said. It predicts that Southampton will see the fastest house price increases in the country, with values expected to jump 43% by 2019 – adding nearly £100,000 to local prices – while Luton, Brighton and Swindon will not be far behind. Rightmove used independent consultancy Oxford Economics to calculate the figures.

etc etc

[Venger]

You were just as much a victim of your own market decisions, and your own love of HPI, buying that house at the stupid peak, in love with debt yourself remember, doing spreadsheets on HPI projections, and rubbing your hands at the massive extra wealth you would have !!

HPC and repossessions, including your own house at the time, were the cure, for bubblehead thinkers and believers. You brought it upon yourself. Renters were paying dead money then, as well, I should imagine, in your view, just before HPC. If you don't realise bankers and politicians are not always on side of debtors/buyers/HPI... by now, that's your own fault.

The ones who believe it true today, as you did in 1989 with your banker best buddy lenders, outbidding renters by fortunes, today... bankers and politicians on side of HPI, deserve the cure of HPC. You and your bubble head greedy victims. Renters don't face stresses too against forever HPI, and your victims doing their HPI spreadsheets ???

I can feel the world get a bit lighter when your bubble heads hit reality. I don't care about them and their debt or hyperinflated equity. I want HPC.

Thanks for that, I agree...and, interestingly, I recall I was doing spreadsheets on my house values.....i was going to have a house worth £500,000 ( K was not a symbol used then)

Boy, was I a businessman of the boom...

see it all the time today....some have learned...but those who have jobs, work for public sector or are just plain young....they are still in bubble mindset mode.

I got help from my bank....they put my unsecured debt onto my mortgage.

then they put the interest rate up...then charged for the non payment letters and added an extra 2% on the mortgage in arrears.

oh yeah, then they charged for special audits every 3 months.

thing is...I knew nothing of bankers....they were supposed to be one of the three wise men for a business....I look back and see what a fool I was beleiving their "advice" was in my interest...which is what they said.

I also got help from the NHS, when I found my office was inverted 90degrees...ie, I was sitting at my desk one day, and found that the opposite wall was the ceiling and I felt like I was on my back....I was in fact still in the chair...but I couldnt move....my entire perspective had gone screwy.

It passed after what seemed an eternity...Doctor recommended relaxation classes....that was an eye opener as well, the rest of the class seemed WORSE than I was....still it fixed my way of dealing with the stress and the symptoms were never that bad again as I now had the tools to cope with the episodes.

Biggest help came from Mrs Loo. we had it hard and just about broke up....but finally...we talked....it took a few weeks but WE came through it..dealing with it TOGETHER was the answer.

I guess many do not acheive this togetherness and the stress just piles up to a breaking point.

As I said, I knew two other businessmen who topped themselves....just themselves mind.

people all do different things.

in my own case, first it was denial...then it was fear...then it was extreme fluctuations....had to get help for a while.....the pressure when in debt is relentless....day in day out....7 days a week 365 days a year.

you can hope for an out....some get it, most dont...

Mrs Loo lost about 2 stone...her brother didnt recognise her at the door and I walked right past her in the street once...thats how bad it can get.

the mind is a funny thing...people will do stupid things....

I starting keeping a diary of my feelings on my computer.......I was able to read those things a couple of years later...Id wished Id kept them, but I can honestly say, and this was a shock, that I didnt recognise MYSELF in the diary.....I was doing INSANE things....what WAS I doing???

I know this might all sound strange to someone not experienced of this, but its true.

Business success is marvelous...you float on air....losing it and all that goes with it is very hard to stomach indeed.

I knew several business people topped themselves in GC1.

Debt was always the issue....well, overstretch actually.

borrowed in the boom, and couldnt keep up when times were hard.

buying a house when rates are at all time lows....fine if you are nowhere near your payment limit...

sure, your line one summed up what I was trying to say better than I did.

we have the florist, successful and borrowed for a few years...the new car, the kid gets the latest cloths, the wife has a new set of friends.

suddenly, they are poor, the wife wants her friends to stay but they leave her when the money stops for shopping trips, the daughter is in a rage when all her friends get everything they want, and the poor guy has his pride....its ALL his fault....he maybe borrowed again, or hides the truth from the wife....

ive seen it. Ive EXPERIENCED it.

Mrs Loo was very good, but our change from success from 7 years of trading to having nothing was hard for her.

our kids were young, so knew nothing of what was happening....we lost it all. I felt that everyone I passed in the street KNEW...like I exuded failure...course, it was all in the mind.

Debt is a killer.....make no mistake.

Not all of us have your mindset, or that of your HPI forever victims, minds in the gutter. We don't look to buy a house for HPI wealth in future, or have any plan to be making out HPI projection riches on spreadsheets, or trying to get as much debt as possible to pay super high crazy prices from bankers who we know are not our best buddies. Nor do we believe politicians/bankers will always protect HPI.

Edited January 27, 2015 by Venger

[Steppenpig]

A few years ago, the figure for empty properties in Berlin was in the mid teens percent, or about 750,000 [edit: well, at least 500,000] properties. Obviously there were historic reasons for that. I haven't seen any figures for a few years, but allegedly we now have a housing shortage.

The Isle St Louis in Paris (the central island bit)is a creepy ghost town at night. Apparently all holiday homes belonging to foreigners.

Edited January 27, 2015 by Steppenpig

[Venger]

A few years ago, the figure for empty properties in Berlin was in the mid teens percent, or about 750,000 properties. Obviously there were historic reasons for that. I haven't seen any figures for a few years, but allegedly we now have a housing shortage.

The Isle St Louis in Paris (the central island bit)is a creepy ghost town at night. Apparently all holiday homes belonging to foreigners.

I guess houses there are on the prime-expensive side for Paris?

Need something to jolt market for real price discovery.

One of France's first examples of urban planning, it was mapped and built from end to end during the 17th-century reigns of Henri IV and Louis XIII. A peaceful oasis of calm in the busy Paris centre, this island has only narrow one-way streets, no métro stations, and two bus stops. Most of the island is residential, but there are several restaurants, hotels, shops, cafés and ice cream parlours at street level, as well as one large church.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%8Ele_Saint-Louis

There's hints, which of course I want to believe as a hpcer - (not a new-peak buyer, eager jumbo mortgage debt embracing slut, with spreadsheets to calculate future HPI super-gains, thinking bankers and politicians are by friends and protectors of HPI, readying excuses against bankers for forcing me to pay crazy prices, so I can tell the world I was a victim) - of St Tropez

But i can say as a witness this winter the region is well deserted only one bistrot is open by the sea and the immense car-parks are empty. Three quarters of the villas are closed and the property landscape has a sinister look about it. Everything is for sale and nothing is selling says an owner who seems to be desperate. Every year the local commerces are reduced just like leather cloths that srink when they dry. The village quickly looks like a cemetery of closed shop windows.

The price of property in ST has been multiplied by a 100 in the space of two little generations. Even with a 50% drop the happy vendors would still get back the amount of there initial investment. Its not rare to see adverts like..4,750,000 euros village house for sale in Saint-Tropez. The over abundance of superlatives are a sign of hard times. Charming house,generous reception room,luxury,standing a view of the sea,swimming pool.

The over abundance of property that is up for sale is another sign of hard times over 18,000 properties in the agencies of the FNAIM in the Var at the end of 2014. Last February the FNAIM had 16,262 for sale an increase of over 10% in a year ? In the bar with my friends 'Mr X' is trying to sell his house that he put up for sale a year ago price 1.2 million today he's at 950K and it still hasn't been sold.

http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/index.php?/topic/83406-french-property/?p=1102656688

[New_Paradigm]

A few years ago, the figure for empty properties in Berlin was in the mid teens percent, or about 750,000 properties. Obviously there were historic reasons for that. I haven't seen any figures for a few years, but allegedly we now have a housing shortage.

The Isle St Louis in Paris (the central island bit)is a creepy ghost town at night. Apparently all holiday homes belonging to foreigners.

There are more than 100,000 secondary residences in Paris for a population of 2 million So 22,000 for London is nothing! Sorry!!!

You don't need to speak French; look at the numbers in central districts: 8e (Champs-Elysees), 4e (Marais)...

http://www.slate.fr/story/84525/paris-logements-vacants-residences-secondaires

I guess houses there are on the prime-expensive side for Paris?

Need something to jolt market for real price discovery.

Well it is very funny you talk about Ile St-Louis. My studio flat (which I expect to sell to buy a flamboyant flat in SE London ) is actually on that plan (but in the "mainland").

That part of Paris (the "Iles" - the other is where Notre-Dame is -, Marais - North - and Latin Quarter - South -)... I would compare it to Leicester Square or Soho. So they don't really attract the Arab/Chinese/Russian which will head to the West (around Champs-Elysees, which would be the local "Mayfair") but maybe wealthy artists and so on..

Prices are not that high. My flat is about 10-12,000 EUR/sqm now. Yeah some top locations can command higher prices. For instance at Place des Vosges, Place Dauphine... if you have good views it can go up to 20-25,000 EUR/sq (very rare). Also new construction which is EXTREMELY rare there (just some old buildings completely rebuilt).

There are less and less residents in those areas indeed but the secondary residences is just one of the reasons.

To me, the main reason is tourism. Tourism in Paris (like London) seems to never stop growing (now you have all those Chinese, Russian, Arabs... that you didn't have 15 years ago). In those thin streets in those areas (like the Marais, Quartier Latin)... there is literally no space. So every weekend (no matter the season) they are PACKED. Well that is very annoying for a resident. You literally step out of your house to be in a flow and crowd of tourists. You have to queue in the metro station to go through the gates (no joke). My building has an historical feature (so it is featured in guides) and I see continuously tourists taking pictures of it (I can see it from my kitchen) since it seems to be in some itinerary with local guides. Sometimes it is funny, sometimes it is annoying.

Second thing... because of tourists... retail becomes totally oriented for them (vicious circle). So it is not very cool if they close a supermarket to open who knows what (an art gallery, some flagship store, some antiquarian...). And even local shops are more expensive. My local PAUL (the bread chain that you have in London) is about 10-20% more expensive than others in areas just about 2 or 3 metro stations. The reason? (I asked a manager once). Tourists (which count for most of the customers there) are willing to pay more and rentals are more expensive. I am lucky enough to have a large supermarket next door (probably the largest in that whole area) but even there is full of tourists which means that they gradually orient it more to "take away" products rather than a real supermarket (and of course it is ridiculously expensive... it is like living in Piccadilly and having Whole Foods as your supermarket)

And then finally tourism means AirBNB. Those small apartments in central Paris (mine is 300 sqft) are just PERFECT for AirBNB (really nobody cares about size; it is all about location when renting in AirBNB, and the location is top). Why rent full-time or live there when you can rent a 300sqft studio for 70 EUR a night? Just make your numbers! You cannot rent that apartment for much more than 1000 EUR. But even if you rent it for 15 days... you already break even compared to a full-time rental (and they don't pay income tax usually on AirBNB ).

Of course in Ile St-Louis that is even crazier because you are in an island where (I think) there is not even a proper supermarket. It is cool because it is very quiet at night (and you are in the middle of the city), but it is definitely not handy (not to mention if you have kids, a car...it just doesn't work).

So yeah it is a vicious circle. Many people "give up" and move to areas just about 500 meters or 1 km. that are more livable and prices are lower (not only property, but shops). Because otherwise you end up living in a tourist trap with all the inconveniences: you street flocked with tourists; crossing Chinese tourists in your elevator going to their AirBNB flat (really nothing against them, but it doesn't make a lot of "community" if you see the point) and having more retail choices to buy €1,000 shoes than a bottle of milk or some meat in a supermarket.

[TwoWolves]

The problem with London is that 26% of households are on housing benefit, a substantial volume of lettings are owned by foreign investors or even hedge funds as investment vehicles (registered abroad) knowing full well that the state is underwriting the values by policy and with taxpayer funds while the prices for working people spiral.

This is not a functioning market.