GENERAL ELECTION 2017: Full house? Examining the need for more housing in the UK

So when the Guardian and the Times found common cause last month it was noteworthy. The Guardian, left of centre and liberal, tends to interpret political issues very differently to the more right wing, and Murdoch-owned, Times, with the two rarely agreeing on anything.

The issue in question was housing building policy. On 7 April the Times ran a series of articles protesting against the increasing ownership of British homes for speculative investment, rather than as places to live. London and the southeast are the prime targets, but investors also have their sights set on other parts of the country. The newspaper reported that of the 282 flats in Manchester’s new Cambridge Street development, only two are being lived in by British owners.² Most of the remainder have been bought up by overseas investors. Many are empty, as the costs and risks of renting the property are often not worth it for owners. The Times editorial leader of 7 April makes clear where it believes responsibility lies for fixing this problem: central government should levy taxes on overseas investors buying property for investment; and local councils need to take action against those who buy flats and leave them empty.³

The Guardian ran a similar series of articles some two years ago, including evidence that many luxurious flats in London are unoccupied, with the middle classes being squeezed out of central London to the increasingly more expensive suburbs. Last month the Guardian was quick to agree with the Times, citing a study from conservative think tank The Bow Group,⁴ which concluded in 2015 that a ‘global elite’ of investors is fuelling housing demand in the UK, leading to rampant house price inflation. The Bow Group conclude that ‘building more houses, despite being the solution most widely touted, is not the answer to the UK’s housing crisis’.⁵ The answer instead is tight regulation of entry to the UK housing market for financial investors, with owner-occupier demand treated separately to investment demand.

In Canterbury and surrounding villages we have been told constantly by many of our elected representatives that we ‘have no choice’ but to build more houses. Yet a key conservative think tank with open lines of communication to the government makes it clear that there is no evidence for this. Should the Mountfield development go ahead one has to wonder how many of the houses will be snapped up and left empty by overseas investors, rather than going to those with a social or economic stake in our community.

So just over a week ago we wrote to the four candidates for the Canterbury and Whitstable constituency, which covers the Mountfield area. They are Julian Brazier (Conservative), Rosie Duffield (Labour), James Flanagan (Liberal Democrats) and Henry Stanton (Green). We asked them three questions:

1. Would you support measures from either central or local government to restrict home ownership by investors who then leave the homes empty?
2. Specifically, what measures would you support? (One option is higher taxation of overseas investors buying property, similar to the 15% tax imposed by Canada and Singapore.)
3. Do you support the proposed judicial review of the Mountfield housing development?

So far none of the candidates have replied. But watch this space; because if they do we will let you know.

UPDATE: On 1st June 2017 we did receive a reply from Sir Julian Brazier. You can read that reply here

References

1. See for example or example: Daily Telegraph 29 October 2010; Daily Telegraph 22 January 2011; Guardian 5 November 2010.
2. ConserveBridge cannot provide the hyperlinks for these articles, which are available behind pay walls. The articles in question are: Andrew Ellson and Gabriella Swerling, ‘Nearly 300 flats – and just two are occupied by British owners’, Times, 7 April 2017, p.9. In the same edition of the Times: Andrew Ellson, Gabriella Swerling and Alastair Benn, ‘Foreigners dominate market for new homes’, p.1.
3. Times leading article, ‘Empty promises: councils have to stop foreigners buying up new-build flats and leaving them empty. They are being put out of the reach of first time buyers’, 7 April 2017, p.29.
4. Deborah Orr, ‘It’s no longer just London: Now Britain is encircled by the property sharks, Guardian, 8 April 2017, p.37.
5. Daniel Rossall Valentine and The Bow Group, Solving the UK housing Crisis: An analysis of the investment demand behind the UK’s housing affordability crisis, November 2015, p.4.