Writing for Prospect, Centre for Progressive Capitalism director Thomas Aubrey argues that the answer to Britain’s housing crisis lies in land value capture, something that Winston Churchill wrote about
Writing for Prospect, Centre for Progressive Capitalism director Thomas Aubrey argues that the answer to Britain’s housing crisis lies in land value capture, something that Winston Churchill wrote about.
Continue reading “Churchill knew how to solve the housing crisis”
For people’s basic needs to be provided in an era of globalisation, wages need to be rising at faster rates than housing costs. But Britain has continually failed to address its dysfunctional housing market and build sufficient homes
For people’s basic needs to be provided in an era of globalisation, wages need to be rising at faster rates than housing costs. But Britain has continually failed to address its dysfunctional housing market and build sufficient homes
Continue reading “The explosive concoction of globalisation and the rising cost of housing”
Politicians keep setting ambitious targets for housebuilding but rates remain far below the desired levels
Politicians keep setting ambitious targets for housebuilding but rates remain far below the desired levels
During the Great Leap Forward, provincial governors in China exaggerated the amount of iron each province was producing in order to please Chairman Mao. As long as iron production estimates rose, Mao seemed content. Sadly for China this approach did little for actual iron output, which fell instead of rising. It wasn’t until 1964 that output reached the levels achieved in 1958.
Continue reading “Britain’s housebuilding targets are like iron production estimates in Mao’s China”
A report on financing infrastructure investment to unlock housing
Financing infrastructure investment to unlock housing
Infrastructure is a key element of the enabling environment to increase economic growth. Access to infrastructure such as energy and transport greatly influences the productivity of private investment and an economy’s competitiveness. Moreover, physical infrastructure plays a central role in fulfilling the ambitions of citizens including the ability to live in an affordable, good quality home that is reasonably close to their place of work.
Stop blaming the planning system for everything
Stop blaming the planning system for everything. Improving the efficiency of the land market will have a far greater effect in driving up the rate of house building than further planning reforms
The government reckons that its housing and planning bill – with the additional measures announced in the autumn statement – will lead to the construction of an extra million homes by the end of this parliament. That means increasing the rate of completions from the 2014 level of 118,000 to well over 200,000 per year. Empirical analysis estimates that there are already over a million plots with planning permission – close to 25 per cent of these in London. And if the current rate of granting permission continues at 250,000 plots per year, this figure will have climbed to over 2 million plots by the end of the parliament. Although there remain some challenges with the planning system, the government must focus on improving the functioning of the land market to drive up construction levels. The way in which volatile and high land values interact with the business model of housebuilding reduces supply. Continue reading “Boosting Britain’s housing stock”
Compared to European counterparts, Britain’s housing market is a picture of market failure
Across the European Union there is often a perception that Britain takes a more market-oriented approach, and where Britain leads continental Europe eventually follows. However, when it comes to housing, this is not the case. Britain’s housing market is far more dysfunctional than its European counterparts. A comparison of two key metrics of a group of six northern European countries demonstrates that the UK has by far the largest market failure in housing. The UK continues to have the lowest construction rate of all six countries. Moreover its housing benefit bill, due to soaring rents, dwarfs that of other countries and is now almost 10 times that of Germany.
Continue reading “Britain’s dysfunctional housing market: a European comparison”
Scrapping tax relief for buy-to-let investors and tackling high land prices should be priorities in this week’s budget if the chancellor wants to avoid a crash in 2025
Scrapping tax relief for buy-to-let investors and tackling high land prices should be priorities in this week’s budget if the chancellor wants to avoid a crash in 2025
Last year, the economist Charles Goodhart predicted that the next financial crisis will hit in 2025 due to another property bubble and some clever financial engineering. Evidence to date suggests that politicians have limited interest in stopping booms and busts. But there are reasons to be cautiously optimistic that George Osborne could be the chancellor to ruin Goodhart’s prediction. Continue reading “How George Osborne could stop the next financial crisis”
Britain’s housing crisis results from the failure of politicians to ensure that markets work in the public interest rather than to the benefit of the unproductive few
Britain’s housing crisis results from the failure of politicians to ensure that markets work in the public interest rather than to the benefit of the unproductive few. This failure, besides the ongoing social issues surrounding housing, has had a negative impact on the UK economy through increasing monetary instability as well as lower output and employment due to a transfer of resources to pay for mostly existing assets as opposed to acquiring new goods.
Continue reading “Report: The challenge of accelerating UK housebuilding”
