please empty your brain below
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I cannot understand why Khan, having won a majority, is so politically timid. He should announce he wants to build council housing (in the sense that those of us over 50 understand the term) and thus create genuinely affordable housing.
(Yes - I know the other lot will block him - but I don't understand why he didn't turn up the political heat and make genuinely affordable housing his proposition)
IslandDweller | 22.06.18 - 7:13 a.m. | #
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The Bank of England are now making stronger indications that they'll increase interest rates, the impending trade war will stoke inflation, so more pressure on interest rates, if you have a mortgage be afraid :(, however if you have savings, happy days are here again :)).
Still Anon | 22.06.18 - 7:26 a.m. | #
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What, even the people on fixed rate mortgages?
Max Roberts | 22.06.18 - 7:28 a.m. | #
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One of the many plans for a rail link from Heathrow to Waterloo services was a link from Feltham which would have included a new station at Bedfont so the flat you mentioned at £170,00 would no longer be 2 miles from a rail service.
John | 22.06.18 - 7:33 a.m. | #
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I would like a flat for £170,00
chitin | 22.06.18 - 7:40 a.m. | #
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This isn't just a London problem. Where I live (about an hour outside of the M25) there are numerous complaints that the lower paid workers can't afford to live in the area. Developers claim they're building affordable housing, but all they do is build a block of, say, 30 expensive flats and make just one affordable. Token gesture.
There was an article a while ago on the BBC website showing that Oxford had the same problem. Oxford is struggling to employ lower paid workers because the workers can't afford to live anywhere near Oxford.
I'm lucky and I've scrapped onto the bottom of the housing ladder in my area. Unless I win the lottery, I suspect I'll die in my little flat.
Jon Jones | 22.06.18 - 7:54 a.m. | #
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It’s worth remembering that when you buy something through shared ownership, you’re basically still a tenant.l - except you’re liable for repairs and increasingly opaque service charge. You’re also totally unable to sublet even if you’re situation changes and you have to move out of the area, even temporarily.
Matthew | 22.06.18 - 8:20 a.m. | #
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Affordability issues are not just confined to either London or the first rung of the ladder. I am lucky enough to live in what the estate agents define as 'a very desirable village'. The problem we have is getting doctors, GPs in particular, because despite having a very attractive work building and location, younger people, even on potentially 6 figure salaries, cannot afford a property commensurate with their position within the community they serve.
West Berkshire Boy | 22.06.18 - 8:22 a.m. | #
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Developers will get up to all sorts of tricks to avoid building 'affordable' flats.
One trick is to make a deal with the owners of a large detached house in a 'nice' road of detached houses. They put in a planning application to demolish the house and replace it with a block of nine expensive flats. It has to be nine because ten flats or more has to include 'affordable'. If they get permission, they go ahead and buy the house, If they don't they try again with a plan for eight flats.
London is the loser because London needs family houses as well as flats.
RayL | 22.06.18 - 8:36 a.m. | #
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I abhor the term "affordable housing", and think it somewhat offensive to those at whom it's aimed. All dwellings are affordable to someone - that's why they have a market price!
Tim W | 22.06.18 - 8:40 a.m. | #
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To the extent that there is any public subsidy here, it will almost entirely go to people who could have bought some sort of home anyway, in many cases with a "loan" from mum and dad.
You at the bottom, shut up and be satisfied with your appointed station in life.
Why is a supposed Labour mayor going along with this?
Tony Woolf | 22.06.18 - 8:49 a.m. | #
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and of course there are many (working) who can't even afford to rent, never mind ever buy. council "waiting" lists are beyond a joke, many housing associations provide no real alternative, private renting is only an option for those who pass the "background checks" and then there are those overcrowded expensive "house shares". could become a lodger or live in a down-beat bed-sit or rent from a sub-let or end-up in a garage/shed/vehicle.
Working Class Hero | 22.06.18 - 9:25 a.m. | #
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To be honest, when I read the first few lines I thought it was going to be a DG spoof in the "affordable housing in London, LOL" way.
I'm actually cautiously optimistic after having seen it. It's a good idea, including places that are easy commutes to London is an unexpected bonus, and some of the listings represent good value.
As for "why shared ownership" - we only bought a flat after a parade evil spunktrumpet landlords put us off of renting with a baby in the house. I was comfortable with the idea of renting for life, but incompetent landlords forced my hand. Shared ownership gives you a place where you're not subject to someone else's whims as to whether or not you'll be living there in 3 months' time.
Chz | 22.06.18 - 9:30 a.m. | #
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Umm...the (previous) Mayor of London had such a portal before: First Steps, launched in 2008. It was good, I found my home through them, before the MoL withdrew and left things to sharetobuy.com around 2013.
I see the (current) MoL is now partnering with competing existing portal propertybooking.co.uk, which seems way more mobile-friendly. The 'new' portal has much stronger MoL branding than First Steps ever had, appears to have a stronger London focus, and at the moment there's less evidence of cross-selling services (brokers etc).
So not something that hasn't been there before and therefore overhyped, but good to have nevertheless.
commonliner | 22.06.18 - 10:23 a.m. | #
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Commonliner: You can't say that Sadiq 'overhypes' things on this blog! 'Cos racist Zac and all that.
David | 22.06.18 - 10:34 a.m. | #
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There seems to be some comparisons of average wage and household income which may not be analogous amounts.
Messiah | 22.06.18 - 11:47 a.m. | #
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In May the Mayor of London also launched a fund of £1.6bn to help local councils in London build social housing at 'genuinely affordable rents', which could be the familiar 'social rent' or the alternative 'London Living Rent'. Both of these are less than the central government's official unaffordable 'affordable' (80% of market) rent.
See here.
To me this is a bigger break through, as local councils have hitherto found it impossible to build social housing, hence their 'dodgy deals' with private developers to get a few affordables included with each private development they permit.
Using this fund, my local council hopes to build 2500 'council homes' between now and next May. We'll see.
ActonMan | 22.06.18 - 8:00 p.m. | #
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Shared ownership is a dodgy proposition - it depends on the lease terms - who really reads / understands those? (bitter experience and arguments with a non-responsive Housing Association, trying to escape its obligations).
Should you want to 'staircase', ie buy a further portion, in 99% of cases you have to have a full survey done for the new mortgage, pay your own and the landlord's legal costs, whilst waiting forever for the HA's lawyers to respond.
Many Shared ownership leases also restrict the number of times you can 'staircase', and the HA always retains the right to sell off the property when maintenance becomes too expensive to recover from the residents.
When you want to move on, you do not get an agent to set a selling price, the Borough Surveyor does that. And the HA retains first selling rights for its (often mythical) waiting lists, which can take at least three months before they grant you the right to sell the property. Some lenders will still not lend on shared ownership schemes, other than for first occupants.
Shared ownership gives stability but also at a non-monetary price. It is a stepping stone, not a panacea. This means shared owners have a disproportionately large percentage of those using the location to move on, which creates credit rating risks for the location.
Unless you band together in an effective Residents' Association, all the HAs will **** on you.
That said I've been in my flat for 24 years...
Joel | 23.06.18 - 5:53 p.m. | #
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As someone has already mentioned the term affordable actually means 20% less than normal market rates. It does NOT mean cheap!
And all places are affordable to some people as they do move in. And if there are say 100 homes at £1 a month then you are still not going to please the couple of million people renting is it.
If you want cheap then you have to move further afield.
Kevin | 27.06.18 - 7:37 p.m. | #
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test
diamond geezer | Homepage | 13.01.19 - 8:00 a.m. | #
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