Beeny's back

[Andy Hall]

If you were to say that governments meddle too much, period, I would agree with you

Unfortunately, LME represents 70% of the electorate. Would you be brave enough to fly in the face of that?

[Derek Geldard]

Nope, firmly planted on this Planet Earth not Fuller's like Nulabour.

Our economy is all founded on borrowing money and spending it.

Which, in fact, explains why house prices have run away. Better to borrow more now, and pay a bit of interest if your asset (Your House) will be worth 30 - 60% more in 1-3 years time, although a housing shortage whilst immigrants by the million are allowed to settle in the country hasn't helped.

So Nulab gets to preside over the closure of a big industrial plant (which is productive) and it gets turned into a big shopping mall selling running shoes, made for USD 5.00 by child/prisoner labour in China and selling for £75.00 in UK, thus contibuting to the profitability of the mall, and providing employment for the Bog-Standard Comprehensive school Brain -Dead chuck -outs.

Super.

And then, Prescot and all the Nulab Bellytubbies turn round and say "We've got the strongest economy in the world" !

Till the borrowing has to stop, that is.

BTW, it just stopped ... DG

[Andy Hall]

On that argument, savings certificates and government bonds are ludicrous as well.

It's important to separate the issue of housing and affordability thereof with investment and return on investment.

As we sit today, there is a large overlap between the two for most people. Undoing that, realistically is not going to happen.

Therefore given that the real issue is housing affordability for those unable to enter the market, the correct solution is to deal with that specifically rather than to screw up the investment market.

Even the first time buyers aspire to something that will be an investment as well as shelter.

That's a cultural issue. You may think that it's intresting to change the culture, but given that you are proposing that as well as changing a major basis of investment, I don't think that you stand much of a chance of success.

[Andy Hall]

You might want to do that. Everybody else would not find it very appealing at all.

[Stuart Noble]

Take away the CGT exemption on main residences and you might get a little closer to a free market.

[Doctor Drivel]

Maybe not is nearly the answer. NOT is the answer.

Matt, you are mad./ Housing is the topic, not the NHS.

Should they ensure every lottery ticket wins as wel!!! Matt? Boy you are dumb at times!!!

[Doctor Drivel]

Matt, the topic is housing. Pay attention.

This artificial shortage of available building land reduces home ownership. Home ownership in the UK is at 68% which is lower than Spain, Finland, Ireland, Greece, Australia and New Zealand and very close to rates in Italy, Portugal and Luxembourg.

The land is not serving the people. Not only that, it financially penalises the people.

You "phase in" the free market in land and housing. Government "rigging" does not work.

Sort out the land and planning systems and many problems that appear unrelated in British society disappear. It is not a panacea to right all the country's ills; however it will be a superb base on which to spring from, as other countries have effectively demonstrated, and right many, many of the problems of our unfair and uneven society.

A stumbling block to any reform is general public perceptions. Many home owners perceive that planning and land reform will devalue their homes and result in negative equity. The country appears obsessed with house price values. The reality is cash with value being an abstract concept. In some areas negative equity may be the case, although some opinion is that this would not occur. A fund taken from LVT taxes could compensate those who drop into the trap in the initial transfer of one system to another is a suggestion. As land prices rise with time, negative equity would cease to be a problem.

Clearly the public need to be informed that land, the God given stuff under their feet, without which we cannot survive, is the major problem in their own advancement and actually curtails their current living standards and quality of life. That is the man in the inner city sink estate, the man in the terraced house, the man in the box semi, the man in the executive home and the country villager. Once the public is aware and this suppressed problem becomes an open issue, then the road is clear for land reform no matter what method is selected. Until then land and land tax reformers are sailing into the wind. Emphasis must be moved to educate and alert the average man and how he is directly affected.

DATA ON LAND USAGE

The land cover of Great Britain is 23.5m hectares. Taken from the Office of National Statistics, in 2002, usage was as follows:

Settled land - 1.8m hectares. 7.65% of the land mass. Agricultural land - 10.8m hectares. 45.96% of the land mass. Semi-natural land, with much uses as agricultural land - 7.0m hectares.

29.78% of the land mass. Woodland - 2.8m hectares. 11.91% of the land mass Water bodies - 0.3m hectares. 1.28% of the land mass. Sundry, largely transport infrastructure - 0.8m hectares. 3.42% of the land mass.

Note 1: Many people question the accuracy of the above figures as government departments present differing figures. Nevertheless the figures are a good guide.

Note 2: The settled land figure includes gardens and other green spaces, which are estimated at around 5%. When adjusted a figure of only 2.5% of paved land emerges.

[The Medway Handyman]

I already have - but only in my imagination..........................

[Doctor Drivel]

They are geared to make money for the government. The current rigged housing prices, the government gain nothing.

Yep. Free up land and allow the free market to take over.

Yep. They can't enter because the 1947 Town & Country Planning act is Stalinist in nature being based on quotas which local authorities have to acheive. Demand, market forces, plays little part in this act. Amazingly, Mrs Thatcher in the 1980s reinforced this Stalinist planning act.

The British planning system does little to assist in alleviating the perennial British housing crisis. Kate Barker Recommendations Report document of December 2006 is encouraging in many respects, however it falls short in many areas, with a lot of emphasis on cutting red tape rather than encouraging a system that would improve the quality of life of people. Although Kate Barker did point to the inadequate planning system for creating the following situations:

- Of the world's 15 most expensive prime commercial property locations, five are in England.

- London West End occupation costs of £98 per square foot are the most expensive in the world. They are around 40% more than any other city in the world, and double that of Paris, the next most expensive European city.

- Prime site occupation costs in Manchester and Leeds are around 40 per cent more than mid-town Manhattan.

[Doctor Drivel]

...one of the string over the past 10 years and still is. Please go back to Mars.

[Doctor Drivel]

When you phase in there is no negative equity and few, or no one loses. Easy.

[Doctor Drivel]

A free market can only happen when land is freed up. See my other post for facts on land.

[Andy Hall]

Doesn't bear thinking about.....

I don't know what you see in it/them

[Andy Hall]

You may think so, but whether or not it's "the answer" it isn't going to happen.

Yes I know. The point was to illustrate that even if something is the right thing to do, it doesn't mean it will happen.

Shutting down and replacing the NHS would benefit far more people than adjusting land availability. The point was that neither will happen because there is not popular support.

If you buy a lottery ticket, you deserve to lose. It would be easier to have box on the tax return marked "voluntary contribution"

[Andy Hall]

To suggest that it should is socialist nonsense.

No it doesn't. Most people make money in numerical terms. Whether they can cash in their chips is something else.

Government involvement in anything seldom works. Mention something new.

[Andy Hall]

All investment products are created with intention of making money or saving it for the seller of the product.

All very interesting but completely academic.

Uncle Joe has a lot to answer for but it's difficult to lay this one at his door.

[Andy Hall]

Take away CGT, period, would be the right solution.

It's the second most iniquitous tax after IHT.

[Andy Hall]

That's the most twattish remark I've heard in a long time.

So your criterion for a successful outcome is no negative equity. Hmmm... This basically means that nobody ends up with less money than they borrowed once the property value is taken into account.

Somehow I don't think you would get a lot of popular support for that.

[Andy Hall]

Yeah. Right.

It is living on borrowed time, just like that particularly nasty socialist in No. 10.

[Doctor Drivel]

Matt, you are learning.

Once again...The UK economy over the past 10 years has been, and still is, the strongest and most robust in the world.