Via Peter Smith/Facebook, from The Telegraph:
A Labour victory, or a red-led coalition, could be detrimental to the housing market, reducing the supply of homes and deterring overseas buyers from investing in London, property experts have warned.
Two thirds of UK landlords will leave the private rented sector if Labour wins the general election in May and a rent controls policy is introduced, limiting the number of affordable rental properties, according to new research from the Residential Landlords' Association (RLA).
There's no need to speculate about what might happen. The UK had rent controls in one form or other for most of the 20th century, and the result was indeed that private landlords nearly all packed it in and sold them for affordable prices to... the very same people who would otherwise have been forced to rent.
Which, was at the time widely heralded as a Very Good Thing.
Another classic bit:
According to research by Rokstone there are approximately 97,000 properties worth more than £2m in the capital. "Therefore if a mansion tax is introduced it will totally disable the London property market," Ms Fatemi added.
"Totally"? According to Savills, there are 3.4 million homes in London.
So the Mansion Tax might affect 3% of London homes. Hardly "totally".
"This could be the straw that breaks the camel's back...we need to be very careful we don't push people too far and seen to be anti-opportunity or, ultimately, investment will go elsewhere and into other asset classes."
If people invest in other asset classes, that's A Bad Thing because..?
Debate Magazine
