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0 pointsmattmanser4y ago0 comments

There's a certain irony (and ignorance) to this comment when you consider that house prices in the UK only started spiralling when councils were forbidden from building new social housing by Thatcher.

Previously 'governmental assistance' of council house building was the major house builder in the UK.

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reedjosh4y ago

I won't deny my ignorance regarding the UK housing market. Here in the US, housing prices are clearly inflated by Fanny/Freddy and artificially low mortgage interest rates.

https://www.fhfa.gov/about-fannie-mae-freddie-mac

> Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were created by Congress. They perform an important role in the nation’s housing finance system – to provide liquidity, stability and affordability to the mortgage market. They provide liquidity (ready access to funds on reasonable terms) to the thousands of banks, savings and loans, and mortgage companies that make loans to finance housing.

edgyquant4y ago

According to an economist piece from last year, both the US and UK have made it a policy of only allowing housing prices to drop when it’s essential and then only temporarily. This isn’t a sustainable method but unlike on the continent (Europe) having a house is an important cultural symbol (to Americans at least) and voters have come to see any decline as proof of poor leadership and it tends to result in bringing the opposition to power.

At some point we will have to allow housing to correct. It’s up there with social security running at a loss as problems we leaving for the next generation.

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