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Wanna Argument?

The UK Housing Market: A Place of Your Own?

The long-lived boom in the UK housing market, which seems to be at an end, exposed a number of structural problems in this vital area of social policy. The growing inability of first-time buyers to afford to buy their own property excludes many young people from home ownership. Demographic changes in Britain mean that we will need more housing, which requires an increase in house construction. Greater supply of homes should help moderate price rises in future. But where are these homes going to be built? How many of them will be 'affordable'? And what are the likely environmental effects of a boom in house building? This 'Wanna Argument?' looks at these and other aspects of the drive to help people own a place of their own.

My home is my castle

Let me on the property ladder too

	Got your mortgage through yet?
			Yep, but now I've lost the flat I was going to buy.
	Lost it? Have you tried Dagenham, that's where mine usually turns up!
			Very funny. It's no laughing matter. If I don't get on the ladder soon, I'll never get a place of my own.
	I wouldn't worry, prices are starting to fall; soon there'll be loads of places to choose from. The market's going to crash, you know.

Is the housing market about to crash?

	That's not what they were saying on the news yesterday. Some suit was predicting a house price crash of 20% this year.
			That still wouldn't help me much. I had to scrape around to find a bank willing to give me a mortgage on a one-bed flat. Prices would have to fall a long way before it had any impact on me.
	I dunno. You can't believe anything you hear these days! Why's today so different to the 90s, when my house plummeted in value and I got stung by that negative equity thingy?

Are conditions today any different from those that created the house price crash of the 1990s?

			Sounds like you were just unlucky in the 90s. Did the Building Society ever get all their money back on that house you had back then?
	Nah! They couldn't get a good enough price for the snooker tables I'd installed in the extension!
			Ahh! Happy days!
	Not for Charmaine and Wayne; they lost all their toys when the bailiffs came round. Anyway, from what I hear there'll be plenty of new homes around in the next few years - you're better off renting until then.
			You obviously haven't seen what I pay to the landlord for my room. What's all this about new houses then?

Is a new house building programme on its way?

	Yep, the Thames Gateway's going to get the majority of these new homes - you sit tight, we'll get you a nice flat on the River!
			Thanks very much. How are they going to fit in all those houses into that space?
	Good point. What do they mean by the Thames Gateway anyway?

So what is the new Thames Gateway scheme?

	Blimey! That's a lot of extra Council Tax to collect.
			Exactly, and I'm not going to pay it either! But what about the flood threat to these new homes - hope they're going to improve the Thames Barrier?
	Either that, or build your new flat on stilts!

What flood protection risks have been taken into account in this new house building scheme?

Nah, I expect the barricades are being built already.

Can't see how all these new homes are going to get built. Surely the middle classes won't let them anywhere near their Waitroses!

Will massive expansion of house building mean a return of the NIMBY?

	This is all well and good for the south of England. What are they going to do about the problems up north?
			I suppose I could always opt for life in a northern town.
	Good song, bad idea - for a southern softie like yourself, anyway!

What about the north?

			I'm not too sure why there is such a problem finding people like me houses to move into. I thought this Government was about a fair deal for less well off people?
	Don't believe it, mate. People like you and me always end up with the worst deal. That's life!
			Unless you can bend the system like you have. I mean, having your house repossessed one year, then getting housed by the council the next. Talk about lucky!
	The harder I work, the luckier I get!
			Yeah, right!

What about social, affordable housing?

	So, there you go. Plenty of good new houses coming along soon.
			Think I'll nip down the estate agents anyway. I'd rather not wait fifteen years for these new ones.
	If you do get a new one, though, you'll probably need some help moving in.
			Thanks for the offer of help. Could you get a van to move my stuff?
	No, but I could borrow a rowing boat!
			Again, not funny.

Where can I get further information?