Debate Magazine
Killer Arguments Against LVT, Not (318)
Posted on the 03 March 2014 by Markwadsworth @Mark_Wadsworth
Those who pretend that only the real economy (and all its advances in technology) exists and who have a massive blind spot where the Land Monopoly Black Hole is concerned argue thusly: We are no longer an agrarian economy. Agriculture is but a small part of our economy and with improvements in communications and transport, land/location and land/location values are no longer so important. Ho hum. Exhibit A: With growing numbers of people going online to perform tasks ranging from work to grocery shopping and streaming entertainment, good broadband has become critical. Homes without can lose 20 % of their value. Or by implication, having good broadband (and presumably mobile phone reception) adds 25% to the 'unimproved' value of a home. Exhibit B: According to the real estate boffins at Knight Frank, suborbital space travel “presents the opportunity to radically shift global property markets”. It seems an odd subject for the consultancy to tackle, but traveling outside Earth’s atmosphere will make getting around an altogether speedier affair (think London to Sydney in two hours) encouraging the world’s wealthiest to take second homes further afield. Note that they are referring to "second homes", and by implication third and fourth homes, thus pushing up demand and hence prices/values. They are not suggesting that people will move their first home, thereby freeing up housing for more efficient use.