Tuesday, 2 December 2014

London house prices and Boris

On a visit to London I picked up the Evening Standard - two articles caught my eye. In one Sam Leith reported that ; "...even thirty somethings - the sort you would expect to be life blood of the up and coming fringes of the city - are fleeing to Birmingham, Nottingham and Oxford in search of affordable housing and agreeable lives."

Turning a few pages I came across a picture of a T shirt clad Boris Johnson (not a pretty sight) who was in Kuala Lumpur where - surprise, surprise - the developers of  Battersea Power Station are staging a road show to sell the properties to the Malaysian rich

Now I'm sorry but if I was Mayor of London I would be seriously concerned about Sam Leith's piece -which he wrote on the back of a report form the Office of National Statistics who found 60,000 people in their thirties left the capital in the year to June.  In fact so concerned would I be about the ridiculous level of house prices in London that instead of promoting sales of the Battersea Power Station development in Malaysia I would have thought his time would be better spent in lobbying the Prime Minister to look at bringing in legislation to either heavily tax foreigners buying property in London or to restrict foreigners right to buy in London - and by the by - don't tell me it can't be done because the Swiss do it rather well.

High property prices are not a boom - they are a curse. Walking round London last night through Kensington and Chelsea  whole streets are in darkness with hardly a light showing in blocks of flats or rows of houses - so many are now owned by rich foreigners as 'investments.' Simple Edwardian terrace houses in Battersea and Fulham are now routinely fetching well over £1.0 million making them unaffordable to all but the highest paid and all Boris does is promote more sales of London property to more absentee so called 'investors' -it is a bad joke.
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11 comments:

  1. baron de friesland2 December 2014 at 14:53

    Francis you have hit the nail on the head, houses are for living in and should,nt be for profit, when you have 20 something trying to get on the 1st rung of the ladder, trying to find a 10% deposit on a 500k flat, something is teribbly wrong, europe dont seem to have these problems and most have affordable rents, and laws to protect them, in germany as you would no the rent normally for 4ys or more at a time not like 6 months in the uk, the goverment like to keep houses high, it stops people rioting because there to busy to strike all be disobedient having to a bloody large morgage and expensive ultilties, more white flight into home counties id presume

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  2. Unknown2 December 2014 at 17:02

    I completely agree with all your points raised here. I think the British people have been stitched up for too long. The powers that be dont care about Britain and the british people

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  3. Anonymous2 December 2014 at 19:21

    We couldn't agree more Francis

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  4. Unknown4 December 2014 at 14:32

    Couldn't agree more Francis! What is going on in the world. Its very similar to what must be happening in certain parts of Devon and Cornwall what local youngsters can't afford to buy houses in the areas that they have spent all there lives due to holiday homes, second home and property development. I have 4 children and descent job but we can't afford to buy a house not of the size we need, so we have to rent. It's a crazy world! Love the show think you have a great family. All the best

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  5. kd4 December 2014 at 20:16

    Completely agree.

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  6. Alan Teague6 December 2014 at 21:10

    You are completely true and house prices have got completely out of hand. My brother in law has to rent a small London flat even though he and his girlfriend have good jobs so working full time. They will never be able to buy their own home. Ps We loved the programme and think your family are wonderful free spirits. Good luck

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  7. Unknown8 December 2014 at 04:15

    Bravo. Needless to say only the dimwitted cretin Doris Johnson would disagree with you on this one Francis, very well said.

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  8. Unknown10 December 2014 at 07:05

    It's very difficult to argue with a man who predicted disaster at the "Great Fulford Estate Car Boot Sale omni-shambles.

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  9. Unknown10 December 2014 at 07:05

    It's very difficult to argue with a man who predicted disaster at the "Great Fulford Estate Car Boot Sale omni-shambles.

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  10. Jacob11 January 2015 at 23:46

    Here in the U.S. similar nonsense can be seen in New York City and the other leading cities. Same story up in Toronto and Vancouver. Meanwhile the 20+ midsized U.S. cities remain comically inexpensive.

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  11. Denise14 June 2015 at 01:20

    A western world problem. IMF induced? The model of "economic growth" means-get people to spend in your city or country no matter where they come from even if it brings no benefit to your local community. Our countries are being sold out from under our noses.
    We have 60% investor purchases here in Australia.

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