Why the UK doesn’t need to build more homes to fix the housing crisis
The cry to build more homes in the UK gets ever louder with each year. As more and more families are resigned to rental properties, or living in bed and breakfasts, every political party manifesto will pledge that thousands more homes will be built.
But do we need more homes? Will this fix the problem?
Towns and cities are packed empty buildings, boarded up windows and empty developments. The UK isn’t full — far from it. The number of empty homes is at its highest in over 20 years.
Recent government figures put the number of homes lying empty in England at just over 610,000, with nearly 206,000 being unoccupied for more than six months — which is the definition of official ‘long-term’ emptiness. Scotland has just under 32,000 properties long-term empty properties, while Wales has around 23,000.
So, why would landlords not want to fill their buildings?
Many overseas developers are simply looking at long-term investment opportunities, in what is dubbed “buy-to-leave”. Buying up apartments and houses, particularly in the capital, to sell on a few years later — without the hassle of tenants in between.
However, according to a charity, buy-to-leaves account for a very small percentage of empty properties.
“One of the most common reasons that properties are empty is because the owner cannot raise the money to do the property up to let it out, or sell,” says Helen Williams, chief executive of Empty Homes speaking to the BBC. “Perhaps they previously rented it out and it now needs more works done to it, or maybe they inherited it.” If a property is jointly inherited, it can take years for beneficiaries to decide what to do with it, she says.
So, what’s the solution?
The problem of empty homes, escalating house prices and an ever larger rental market has been left politicians scratching the heads for a while. But HiP Property has the perfect solution.
When it comes to buying a house, you currently have the borrower jumping through the very small hoops of the lender who would charge fairly steep interest rates.
It takes decades for the loan to be paid off, in which time, redundancies could be made, families get bigger and a whole host of economic factors could potentially derail the repayment plan. Repossession is only a few missed mortgage payments away.
In the meantime, house prices are going up, leaving a generation of first-time buyers outpriced.
This current model is one way of creating a healthy rental market as well as dramatically reducing one’s ability to own a home. So what do you do?
First, you democratise the property market by changing the way houses are bought.
This is an antiquated and centralised closed-loop financial system that does not serve the majority of people.
HiP is creating a property market that is accessible for everyone to participate in.
First-time buyers will now be able to get into the property they desire based on affordability through investment potential rather than their personal credit rating.
Investors will be able to instantly invest in a residential property without the hassle of becoming a landlord and have the freedom to create their own financial products.
Property owners will be able to — through HiP — turn their equity into cash allowing them to repair, renovate, retire or simply buy another house.
HiP creates an entirely new capital market that levels the playing field.
Want to know more? Visit HiP.Property.
And for those who of you who want to know even more, we’re in the middle of rolling out our ICO. If you’re interested in changing the way owning property works, Google “hip property ICO” to help us decentralise the real estate market and to get maximum token discounts.
