Housing Market and Boris Johnsons

Boris Johnsons: Camdens housing market is one of the most extreme in the country. The average cost of a house is 700,000. This would require a household income of about 175,000 to get a mortgage. Average weekly rent for a two-bed flat is 440, requiring an annual income of about 70,000. Even Boris Johnsons so-called affordable rents , at 80% of the market rate, need an income of 50,000. Average earnings in Camden are 33,000. Something has to give, according to The Guardian. The housing market is broken for a few reasons, but the main one is the market itself. House builders private companies in the main benefit from spiralling values. One way to keep prices rising is to restrict supply. This started under Thatcher with right-to-buy . She stopped councils building replacement homes for the ones that were sold off, with the idea that the private market would step in. It didnt. She let existing stock slide into disrepair. When Labour came to power in 1997 the focus was investment in existing stock and only latterly on building. But crucially, and fatally, Labour didnt reverse Thatchers ban on councils building until 2009 and Britain faces a housing crisis. For a long time, people on low incomes have been struggling with the cost and quality of housing. But its now so acute that, in my role as leader of Camden council, even senior people in multinationals raise with me on a regular basis the issue of housing for their staff. The Conservatives have done practically nothing to ease the crisis. House building is only just starting to pick up again, while the Help to Buy scheme has fuelled price increases and created a housing bubble that puts our fragile recovery at risk. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.