'Micro-Homes Could Solve' London's Housing Crisis

Living in micro-homes could "expand choice" for young professionals and help tackle London's housing crisis, a report has suggested. A neoliberal think tank is calling for the Greater London Authority (GLA) to scrap its rules on minimum floor space. The Adam Smith Institute said homes in the capital with less than 37 sq m of floor space could be an "affordable opportunity" for young people. But the GLA said "cramming people in" was not the answer to the problem. Micro-homes are defined by the British Property Federation as living spaces between 20 and 40 sq m, that are either self-contained or share some amenities. Read more on the BBC website.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-46938445

Flexible Right To Buy

Many in council accommodation are there due to current prices in the UK’s cities. High prices mean, even with the current Right to Buy discount, that many mortgages are out of reach for those in these homes. Today we call for a reboot of Help to Buy: by making it flexible.

·         Social tenants eligible for the Right to Buy should be given a Flexible Right to Buy, entitling them to buy a new home, using the value of their Right to Buy discount.

·         The tenant’s previous home would then be sold, funding the discount and raising additional revenue.

·         A conservative estimate of the impact would see 21,000 tenants take advantage of the scheme with £2 billion of discounts on £9 billion of stock and net receipts of £7 billion.

Read more on the Adam Smith Institute website.

https://www.adamsmith.org/research/flexible-right-to-buy

May Promises £10bn Help To Buy Boost

The government will find an extra £10bn for the Help to Buy scheme to let another 135,000 people get on the property ladder, Theresa May has said. The extra cash will help buyers get a mortgage with a deposit of as little as 5% to buy newly built homes. Mrs May gave no detail about the source of the funding and said plans would be outlined in the Budget on 22 November. But think tank the Adam Smith Institute criticised the revival of the scheme, saying it would push up house prices. Read more on the BBC.

How To Solve The UK's Housing Crisis

The government should let councils buy land, grant it planning permission and then sell it off to help solve the UK's housing crisis, according to a report by think tank Adam Smith Institute (ASI). The president of the think tank and the report’s author Madsen Pirie said that devolving power to local councils could help yield £30bn to pay for public services. One of the estimates the study cited showed that an acre of land was worth £2,500 without planning permission and £4m with it. "By granting permission to land they own, councils can capture the monetary benefits for themselves and their residents," the ASI said. Read more on the City AM website.

Help to Buy Scheme Will Worsen Britain's Housing Crisis

The government’s Help to Buy scheme, which offers government-backed equity loans to house buyers and mortgage guarantees to banks, will distort the housing market, risk taxpayers’ money with no promise of a return, and introduce into the UK housing market the same perverse incentives that led to the US subprime mortgage crisis, argues a new paper by the Adam Smith Institute.  The report, Burning Down the House, argues that without measures to increase supply by liberalising planning laws, the Help to Buy scheme will simply drive up house prices, making housing no more accessible overall. Indeed, users of Help to Buy benefit at the expense of those who fail to use the subsidy scheme; the policy is like putting a platform under the buyer while also raising the bottom rung on the housing ladder.  Download a copy of the report from the Adam Smith website.