If the golden age of home ownership is over then nobody appears to have told second home owners.
On the same day that the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) published a report calling for a new range of renting options for people who don’t qualify for social housing but can’t afford to buy, a survey by estate agent Knight Frank revealed that second home ownership has reached a record high.
The CIH report is a thoughtful attempt to address the housing needs of what it calls the ‘in-betweens’ at a time when home ownership is shrinking and funding for social housing is about to be cut.
In particular, it says there could be a new role for social housing providers to broaden their role, meeting the needs of more households at the same time as generating income to support affordable provision.
That might involve a level of asset ‘churn’ - selling off some properties and re-investing the capital gains - but also offering longer tenancies to renters.
The work was supported by London & Quadrant, which today extended its UpToYou rent to purchase scheme aimed at households earning between £12,000 and £25,000.
However, the Knight Frank survey reveals that demand from the housing ‘haves’ is set to intensify even as new ways are developed to cater for the ‘have-nots’.
Second home ownership in Britain rose 2.6% in 2009 to reach a record 245,384 homes and Knight Frank is predicting a further 2% rise this year to take the total above a quarter of a million for the first time.
The growth is especially marked in the new-build market for holiday homes, where the coalition government has said owners will continue to enjoy tax advantages that Labour was set to scrap.
In popular holiday home hotspots supply is well down while demand continues to grow. In the meantime of course, second home owners look set to be able to take advantage of record low interest rates for some time to come.
And the same will apply to buy-to-let investors (CML figures last week showed more are starting to appear again) and the 80% of first-time buyers who get help from their parents to buy.
All of which suggests that the needs of the have-nots and the in-betweeners will become even more acute over the next few years.
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Readers' comments (7)
Melvin Bone | 17/08/2010 2:35 pm
'The growth is especially marked in the new-build market for holiday homes, where the coalition government has said owners will continue to enjoy tax advantages that Labour was set to scrap. '
They did have 13 years to scrap them...
Not exactly quick off the mark were they...
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Sidney Webb | 17/08/2010 2:54 pm
Precisely, but it does not make the actions of the current government any more correct simply because the Blairites failed to act.
I think people are beginning to catch on that Blair was simply a bridge between extreme right-wing governments.
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Anonymous | 17/08/2010 3:30 pm
Blair who took Thatcherism and mixed it with Stalinism and gave us a cynical and vile government is far worse than a bridge between two far right governments. He created something paticularly nasty and evil that I hope we never see the like of again.
I dont think giving tax breaks to second home owners is going to help deliver the "localism" nonsense that Cameron and Shapps have imagined. Villages where the local community can decide on new housing that can be bought by outsiders at the market rate (the market rules the tories) - it will serve 'local housing trusts' bloody well right if they buy into localism. Big society - yeah right.
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Sidney Webb | 17/08/2010 4:14 pm
Blair mixed Thatcherism with Stalinism? Not sure he did. There were no closures of any opposition parties. There was no nationalisation. There was no mass murder. There was no redistribution in the interests of the poor, but plenty in the other direction. There was no cutting edge technology. There was no massive rise in the nations health. There was no increase in educational outputs. There was a massive increase in homeless waiting lists, but then there was no homelessness under Stalin.
I think what the commentator is seeing is that Blair, in fact, did very little. He just took over from Mummy Maggie and cruised along saying occassional joined up words and starting wars, not forgetting having his belly tickled by Bush.
As to hoping we never see the likes of it again, well we've had it for 31 years now and there is no sign of it going away any time soon. Cameronism, Picklism or whateverism is, as you identify, an irrelevent distraction from the obvious continuation of the pillage of society and the destruction of the gains made by common people over the past 5 centuries. Yet still the populus majority call for more of the same - it is truly astonishing.
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cheaphousing | 18/08/2010 11:03 pm
I was one of though's people that loved the boom. I sold my house and made over 60k profit, my house sold for £105k, was it worth £105k NO definitly not but people were like vulchers then snapping up property, These houses aren't worth what people are asking these days, it'll be a couple of years before im back on the ladder, for now i'll stick to websites like www.flatmaterooms.co.uk and flatshare, it easier and less hassle and i get more money to spend and save for a deposit
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Chris | 19/08/2010 12:03 pm
Cheap - why are you saving for a deposit when you have £60k profit, presumably banked?
Good luck to you anyway - your life and your choice - which is the whole point.
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cheaphousing | 19/08/2010 12:56 pm
Ha that 60K went on business, so I only have about 1k left :-/
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