London: the city that ate itself

Re:London: the city that ate itself by markvdb on Tuesday June 30, 2015 @01:55AM (#9803192)

That might be true for the US, but it certainly is not for most of Europe. I guess that difference has at least something to do with differences in fiscal regime.

I dare you to find me real estate with a 10% gross yield in Belgium for example...

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Re:London: the city that ate itself by mutatio on Tuesday June 30, 2015 @02:41AM (#9803366)

It's the same in the UK, banks won't even look at you if your projected yield isn't at least 6%. The fact buy-to-let mortgages have this requirement for mum and pop landlords means that even if you have the liquid assets (large hedge funds, investors, mega-rich) you might as well extract the 6% minimum yield. Result: astronomical rental costs growth in London, gotta feed the system somehow!

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Re:London: the city that ate itself by ars on Tuesday June 30, 2015 @02:53AM (#9803410)

> I dare you to find me real estate with a 10% gross yield in Belgium for example...

Does Belgium have no property tax? That's the only way such low rents could work.

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Re:London: the city that ate itself by markvdb on Tuesday June 30, 2015 @08:06AM (#9804570)

Taxation is very low compared to other taxation in Belgium: http://www.globalpropertyguide.com/Europe/Belgium/Tax-Pages

Round trip transaction cost is sky high though. My experience is that the 21.10% estimated here is a gross underestimate: http://www.globalpropertyguide.com/Europe/Belgium/roundtrip-...

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