Price war

摘要

Summoning the ghost of that great and eccentric architecture critic and provocateur Martin Pawley (1938-2008), I am going to talk about house prices. At one time Pawley was fascinated to the point of obsession by the subject, particularly the 'leakage' mortgages provided into the rest of the economy. There was a great pretence going on, he averred. In the late 1980s, well into the 'Right to Buy' era, mortgages - deregulated and divorced from purchasers' savings deposits -had effectively become all-purpose long-term loans. You'd borrow money to buy a home and add a wedge for other stuff. Some used it to improve the property; others bought flashy cars or holidays. Margaret Thatcher's 'property-owning democracy' became a credit boom underwritten by soaring house prices. So to today. We take it for granted, don't we, that the UK has a housing shortage? Everyone keeps saying so. Not enough new housing is being built compared to this or that period of recent history. Property prices and rents are sky-high, so the laws of supply and demand must apply. Build more homes, everywhere! Drastically simplify the planning system to boost building!