The UK Housing Crisis Did Not Start with the Credit Crunch

I googled “housing crisis uk ladder” without the quotes just to see if I would find this blog on the first page of google results.

Somewhere down the bottom on the first page of google results I did found the blog. However, a website that which ranked higher caught my attention with it’s sumary: “How are the young ever to afford to get on the housing ladder given the severe … Wanted: new city to solve UK housing crisis, Household growth in England. …”

I clicked on the website. It was promoting a book titled “The Housing crisis” published in 2004.

I jumped to the key facts and highlighted the following:

“Britain will need a new city the size of Leeds to be built over the next decade if it is to tackle the chronic housing shortage which leads to rocketing house prices that keep potential first-time buyers off the property ladder. (p. 20) “

Bearing in mind that this book was published in 2004 way before the credit crunch started (2007), we can draw four keypoints about the UK housing crisis:

1. The fundamental UK housing crisis is mainly due to the housing shortage
2. Many would-be first time buyers won’t jump on the property ladder if no creative solution is brought to the market
3. “Rent to buy”, “rent to own”, “rent now buy later” or lease options are best suited solutions to allow most first time buyers with regular income to reach the first rung of the the property ladder.
4. Any one who can’t qualify for a mortgage immediately but have regular income will also benefit from these creative solutions to (larger) home ownership.

If you can’t qualify for a mortgage right now but would like to buy a property eventually, visit our tenant-buyer section.

If you have a house that you preffer to sell at market value or above because of your personal circumstances, visit our landlord-seller section.

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