The Threat Coming by Land

Re:The Threat Coming by Land by Spooky23 on Sunday September 13, 2015 @08:37AM (#10211164)

You're missing the real root cause here, which is the deep subsidy of mortgages. Housing prices would be 1/3 of current levels without tax exemptions, direct loan subsidy and various guarantees.

There should be limits on these things to prevent the type of situations we see in SFO, Boston, etc.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Threat Coming by Land by gaius on Sunday September 13, 2015 @08:59AM (#10211233)

There hasn't been a mortgage tax exemption in the UK for decades.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Threat Coming by Land by hanoz on Sunday September 13, 2015 @09:26AM (#10211314)

Buy to let landlords have enjoyed 100% tax relief on mortgage interest for decades and only now, well in April 2017, are they finally about to start losing some of that unfair advantage over would be owner occupiers.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Threat Coming by Land by gaius on Sunday September 13, 2015 @09:38AM (#10211349)

I'm not sure that it is unfair - since if a landlord's property is empty, they are liable for the council tax on it. It's a risk/reward scenario.

Consider a world with no landlords. You live with your parents until you can afford to buy, or you wait in line for social housing, which won't magically appear from nowhere...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Threat Coming by Land by Spooky23 on Tuesday September 15, 2015 @12:19PM (#10221480)

Land is a finite resource, always in demand. I have zero sympathy for rent-seekers, and the government shouldn't be subsidizing the value of their assets.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Threat Coming by Land by collyw on Sunday September 13, 2015 @11:18AM (#10211643)

And "emergency" low interest rates for 7 years or so. I imagine a fair fw of those would need to be sold if interest rates were at 5%.

[ Parent | on HN ]