London's world status and house price boom is now hurting the middle class
By jamFace at 2013-08-04 17:13:12
London, UK
68 replies
10434 views
Oh well - I kind of like renting. chiefly the part where I call the landlord whenever something breaks and he fixes it from his own pocket. I really love that bit.
When I lived there until 2011 I earned good money, around £45k, but in the London environs that couldn't even buy us an regular sized family home. I came to the conclusion that the UK housing market was totally conked out and emigrated to the US, where the same comparable salary gets me a huge 4 bedroom house, 2 cars and a nice holiday every year.
What labour did at that moment was unforgivable.
There are a lot of reasonably priced properties in London, it's just that nearly all of them are poor condition and often located in shithole, undesirable areas with high crime rates and persistent unemployment. Gentrification might be an easy way for property developers to push up the desirability (with nice margins) of an area, but it just moves the real problem of crippling poverty somewhere else in and out of the city.
This is an topic for local and state government needs to solve.
The article pisses me off a bit as well, the major centrepiece is concerning the gentrification of Brixton, but as an alternative of speaking to honest, working class people trying to get by on minimum wage, they give the main expression to some long term squatters complaining they're getting turfed out of a house they don't own or rent.
Oh well - I kind of like renting. chiefly the part where I call the landlord whenever something breaks and he fixes it from his own pocket. I really love that bit.
on your point about banks NOT being bailed out due to insufficient funds i would like to point out that the US Fed has an in effect limitless ability to print money so the snag would not be affordability as much as the political will to do so. and to add to my last point the Fed is technically an apolitical association but in reality will likely consider politics (maybe not along political party lines but in some way) when acting.
Oh well - I kind of like renting. chiefly the part where I call the landlord whenever something breaks and he fixes it from his own pocket. I really love that bit.
On a moderate salary of £50k, I'd be able to pay for a 3-bed in a non-slum area ..... never.
This is an topic for local and state government needs to solve.
What labour did at that moment was unforgivable.