The Daily Mash on top form:
In August of this year, the average price of a two bedroom hole in South London was £450,000, but there are now fears this figure could drop to as low as £430,000.
Norman Steele, a mortgage broker, said: “It’s the difference between a young couple staring in an estate agent’s window and saying, ‘This is ridiculous, we’re going to have to live in a kennel or move to Middlesbrough’ to ‘This is ridiculous, we’re going to have to live in a shed or move to Stoke’.”
Thoughts on the Resurrection — and humanity
6 hours ago
6 comments:
So move to Middlesborough or Stoke.
I admit I'm not a fan of London, but it's not like everywhere outside London is completely uncivilised. I live in Swindon and have access (via broadband) to the same poncy arthouse movies that you get in London, the same books (via Amazon). OK, we don't have an IMAX here but it's only an hour and a half to Waterloo for the odd time I want it.
I've been to all sorts of places around the country and there's a load of much-loved places that I didn't like. I don't like Brighton, I do quite like Swansea and Cardiff. I hated Manchester. I liked Glasgow. Leeds is good. Birmingham's ugly, but you can live in Solihull or Henley-in-Arden. And Oxford is an overrated dump.
The elephant in the room of the whole "London is completely unaffordable" meme is the fact that there is very little empty property in London. That means there are enough people who can afford to live in London to fill the vast majority of homes in London. So what if a few decades ago it was much cheaper? if people can afford to live in London and they obviously can, London is affordable.
Of course what the meme really means is "no-one can afford to buy a home in London any more that is going to earn more money than they do over their lifetime and give them a huge tax-free windfall gain when they decide to retire or move to the country, my parents were able to do that and I can't, its NOT FAIR", but we don't mention that, do we?
TS, some people like London, others don't. But once you have lived here, you become hefted.
B, agree to your first point but your second point is a bit harsh. It was the baby boomers who invented this nonsense, and for every winner, there is a loser. If the losers complain because the game was rigged all along, then that seems fair enough to me.
"If the losers complain because the game was rigged all along, then that seems fair enough to me."
True, but they are not so much complaining that the game was rigged but that they were not on the winning side, i.e. they are not complaining about the fact of the rigging, but its direction. Put them in the De Lorean and take them back to 1989 and they wouldn't act any differently to the way their parents did.
"they wouldn't act any differently to the way their parents did."
Nice baseless accusations Bayard. The reality is some of us are left wing in other words we want to reduce inequality. Can you believe that?
OK, Random, you've been for a ride in the De Lorean, the house that you want to buy and that was going to cost you £800,000 in 2015 is for sale for £100,000. What, as a left winger, do you do about it in the name of equality?
Although your parents' generation benefited hugely from land price rises, they didn't actually do anything to cause them. That was all done by the government and the banks. Although, on paper, I have benefited from that price rise, I can honestly say I wouldn't have lifted a finger to help along something which I think has been a disaster for the country.
It's not a baseless accusation, anyway. I am not saying everyone is like this, but the change in attitude towards renting over the last two generations is a pretty good indication that the majority are.
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