Tuesday, March 5, 2024 5:00 a.m.
It takes a young couple on a normal income 30 years to save up the down payment for an average property in London, but there is a way to change that, writes Sam Richards.
London is in a housing crisis. Due to the economic boom the city has experienced over the past 30 years, employment numbers have soared by 62% and the population has increased by 2 million people.
The capital’s economic pull draws people from all over the UK and around the world in search of opportunity. Among them is his third of all immigrants in the UK.
However, housing construction has not caught up. Never before has the dream of home ownership been so far away for young Londoners.
A young couple who lives in the capital and has a normal income and cannot rely on mom and dad’s bank can forget about buying their first home. It takes an astonishing 30 years to save up a down payment to buy the average property in London.
House prices across the city rose 12.5 times the median income. In Hackney, Haringey and Islington, prices are 15 times his average income.
London is very expensive compared to other parts of the UK, so the rent for a one-bed property in London (£1,276 per month) is higher than a three-bed property anywhere else.
The last time house prices were this high relative to average salaries was when Queen Victoria was on the throne.
Let me be clear: this did not happen by chance. Politicians from all walks of life, from City Hall to his SW1, have chosen not to allow us to build the housing we need.
For London to continue to thrive, the winner of May’s mayoral election will need to break the cycle and prioritize fixing the city’s broken housing market.
That’s why, ahead of the election, Britain Remake, the pro-growth campaign I lead, set out a results plan that would see more than 900,000 energy-efficient homes built over the next 15 years.
‘Get London Building’ explores how the next mayor can build the homes Londoners need by regenerating housing estates, building in the most connected places and making better use of land. is showing.
By replacing London’s post-war mansions and gradually densifying them, more than 530,000 additional homes could be built across the city. In addition to this, 540,000 social housing units could be rebuilt, providing warmer and larger properties for existing council tenants.
Regenerating London’s real estate will not only address the capital’s extreme housing shortage, it will also save money while making the country greener. If all new housing developments were built to the highest energy efficiency standards, the average council tenant would save almost £800 a year on gas and electricity bills.
But the next mayor needs to go further.
Large swathes of London’s industrial land near underground and train stations are being protected not for their environmental value, but for Amazon’s warehouses, rental car return points and self-storage facilities.
It is unjust to protect this land while London cries out for more housing.
One of these, Acton’s Park Royal Industrial Estate, could deliver 135,000 new homes within a 10-minute walk of tube and train stations.
High rents and house prices not only mean Londoners can’t get on the housing ladder, they hold back the economy as a whole.
London is the UK’s most productive city, accounting for just under a quarter of the UK’s GDP. A 1% increase in London’s economic growth would generate around £2.5 billion more for public services such as the NHS.
Lowering housing costs in London and allowing more people to live and work in the capital would strengthen the UK economy and end more than a decade of stagnation in living standards.