FLIPPING HECK

It’s the eve of the election, all eyes will be on the polls tomorrow. Mrs Sunak is probably bubble-wrapping her china as I type and Larry the mouser is no doubt hoping for a feline friendly caretaker that might dish out regular treats and belly rubs. Friday’s tabloid headlines are likely to be a bit mental. However, until then I hope the politicos have a few spare minutes to scroll down this post. Sir Keir – that means you!

I watched a TV programme a couple of nights ago on Channel 4 called ‘Skint: The Truth About Britain’s Broken Economy’ and parts of it got me so riled up, I hardly slept a wink. There were many good points raised by the economist presenter but I felt that other parts didn’t delve deep enough into the ‘maths’ as promised.

Skint - yeah, we all are!

The presenter talked about the current housing crisis; the point was made about a lack of council/social housing yet the solution proposed was not for local authorities to build or acquire cheap properties to fix this issue but to relax planning regulations further and to consider using green belt areas skirting larger cities so that even more new houses could be built.

Watching today’s episode of ‘Homes Under the Hammer’ made me realise that one contributory factor to today’s housing crisis is that Britain has become a nation of ‘Flippers’. Flippers? Is she on about the rubbery fins scuba divers wear on their feet? Nope.

Not this kind of home buyer

‘Flippers’ are people who buy property with the aim to tart it up cheaply then re-list quickly back onto the housing market to make a fast buck. ‘Flippers’ are mostly tradespeople, those who have an extensive network of other trades they can call upon or those who are a bit handy themselves and not afraid to roll up their sleeves for a spot of DIY.

Flippers scour the housing market snapping up all those dirt cheap dilapidated old wrecks fit only for demolition then turn these sow’s ears into silk housing purses that can be sold on for a tidy profit. Even my plumber is at it; as he recently explained there was more money to be made with a couple of ‘flips’ than in a year’s worth of work servicing gas boilers.

Then there are the ‘Frippers’ – these folks buy up the dross, do it up then rent out the properties as ‘high end’ lets for an exorbitant rent whilst they wait for the housing market to move upwards, enjoying the rental income then off-loading the property once the price has substantially increased. Frippers are unlikely to be long-term landlords, they’ll need to crystalise their investment at a future point ready for their next venture leaving renters out on their ear.

It seems some people are not content to leave their savings in a traditional deposit account preferring instead to plough their dosh into bricks and mortar thus fuelling the demand for property and pushing up prices. What the Channel 4 programme failed to mention is that the reason there is little affordable property on the market for first time buyers is because anything cheap is snapped up by the Flippers, Frippers, foreign investors and second home owners with Governments doing little about it. Any why would they? After all this is Britain, the land of free-market capitalism and not some socialist state. They call it ‘growth’ and that’s all they care about.

One way out of the housing crisis is NOT to continually build more properties which puts money in private developer pockets and pressure on existing infrastructure but to look more closely at WHO is buying it in the first place. Legislate so that there are more controls in place to minimise Flipping, Fripping, second home and investor ownership thus enabling more housing stock to be available for first time buyers.

It wouldn’t be a bad idea for the new Government to think about how it can raise further revenue from these practices so that it could then plough this into much needed social housing projects. CGT and Council Tax for second home owners needs to be pitched at a level that ensures those depriving young people of affordable housing are footing the bill for more social housing.

Some of the Channel Islands have the right idea by having a ‘primary’ housing market price for non-islanders and a cheaper ‘secondary’ market price for local residents. Perhaps the UK could consider adopting a similar way forward in each county.

Crikey! I’m exhausted just thinking about all that flipping and fripping going on. Just think, in a few decades time there’ll be no old fixer uppers left to buy so how will young people acquire useful DIY skills?

Remember - Vote Larry!