UK - Villages becoming 'exclusive enclaves' for wealthy

[Dover]

Source: Telegraph.co.uk


By Jon Swaine
BST 23/07/2008




Planning restrictions must now be eased to allow more affordable housing, the report said, in order to prevent countryside communities being severely damaged by the huge gulf between property prices and local incomes.

The study, carried out on the request of the Prime Minister by Matthew Taylor, the Liberal Democrat MP, highlighted that the average wages of people working in rural communities were now £4,655 lower than the national average, which, together with the high price of first-time buyer homes, means it now takes a higher proportion of average income to service a mortgage in the South West than it does in London.

Mr Taylor said that more affordable homes must be developed in rural areas, and that they should be sold to local workers.

His report also suggested that restrictions be put on the development of second homes in Britain's national parks, meaning that councils could ensure such houses were lived in full-time.

Mr Taylor said: "Endless bland housing estates crammed on to the edge of towns are often unattractive, they fail to deliver local services, shops or open spaces...cont'd

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/global/main.jhtml?xml=/global/2008/07/23/noindex/village.xml&CMP=EMC-expat2008

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[WriteDown]

1. Property ownership is rare...

in most of Western Europe. That is one of the big difference between there and here. Try buying a house in Germany. Nearly impossible.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

2. Property ownership is much more common in the UK than on the Continent.

I wouldn't exactly call it "rare" in the UK.

[conspirator]

4. Property ownership with a fully paid mortgage is rare in UK n/t

[dipsydoodle]

5. Kinda makes me

rare then. :)

[no_hypocrisy]

3. That's partly b/c in Germany you pay up front, saving until you have the purchase price.

They don't do mortgages, personal credit like here.

A lot of young families move in with parents or in-laws (and hope to inherit the house and property, provided they are the firstborn of the family).

[WriteDown]

7. You nailed it

Houses are multi-generational. You are very likely to live in the same house your grandparents or even your great-grandparents lived in. Hard for someone without an existing family to buy a home though.

[jannyk]

6. UK Home Ownership is on par with US - 70% vs 69%. It is higher than US in

some EU countries - Ireland and Spain (80% each). Germany's stats (40+%) are skewed by the former East Germany where home ownership was not permitted under the communist regime - so they have a lot of catching up to do - as well as the higher cash to loan requirements previously mentioned.

[jaybeat]

8. Sounds too much like affordability = unrestricted sprawl

Folks here in the US have been making that argument for years. Of course, places where they let developers build whatever, wherever, are no more "affordable" than places that have effective land-use planning and laws.

But Republican politicians love to sound like they care about "the little guy," so they can help their developer buddies make more money!

:grr:

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

10. You couldn't achieve unrestricted sprawl in the UK even if you wanted to.

Development is far more stringently controlled here than it is in the US. Which is not to say that the development that *does* occur is any better in terms of quality. New housing estates here tend to cater to one particular income bracket, provide few if any services, and generally have most of the same problems as new developments in the US - with the exception of unrestricted sprawl.

[Xithras]

9. Supply and demand.

As the population continues to increase, the demand for homes increases right along with it (all those new people have to go somewhere). When you put a total freeze on new development, as many small communities have done to preserve greenspace and feel, you create an economic problem. A growing population with nowhere to go will increasingly compete for limited dwellings. That drives prices up, keeping the poor out of the market.

You have three options.

1. Accept that the population will grow and that cities will sprawl endlessly across the countryside with them.
2. Preserve green spaces around villages and towns, but sacrifice older construction to replace it with higher density housing.
3. Stop increasing the local population.

[Hannah Bell]

11. most of europe is at below replacement rate, birthrate wise.

the us is right at replacement, 2.1.

[Xithras]

12. True, but immigration is still growing the overall population.

The source of the population growth doesn't matter in this instance. An increasing population without an increasing number of homes will lead to shortages.

[Hannah Bell]

13. The US population, even with heavy immigration, has grown at a rate of

less than 1% per year since the 60's. That means homebuilding & the economy generally would only need to grow at the same rate to accomodate the new arrivals.

Europe has grown even less.

Truth is, there's an oversupply of housing in the US, more than enough for everyone to have more than one house or apartment.

Unfortunately, 10% of the population owns the bulk of it, & the main reason for so much building is to direct more $ into the hands of the top 10%.

http://globalis.gvu.unu.edu/indicator_detail.cfm?country=US&indicatorid=29

http://globalis.gvu.unu.edu/indicator_detail.cfm?country=DE&indicatorid=29

http://globalis.gvu.unu.edu/indicator_detail.cfm?country=AT&indicatorid=29

http://globalis.gvu.unu.edu/indicator_detail.cfm?country=GB&indicatorid=29

http://globalis.gvu.unu.edu/indicator_detail.cfm?country=SE&indicatorid=29