This morning's Mail on Sunday, has revealed that the first "affordable homes" that John Prescott said would be £60,000 have gone on sale for £175,000. I remember when this policy was first announced by Prescott and frankly it was always pie in the sky spin from the start.Whilst the construction cost of a home might be possible for £60K, the market value of such a property was always going to be massively higher once complete. For a start the construction companies was always going to have a margin to meet to justify taking on the contract.
I guess the most amusing thing is that the housing minister, Yvette Cooper, is doing the ostrich dance by insisting that some of the homes on the estate in Newport Pagnall will be "affordable". She doesn't actually say what "affordable" means in monetary terms but that's not a surprise, she hardly wants to find herself the subject of a story about how she got it wrong.
Only a complete idiot could've genuinely believed that the houses were going to be sold for £60K, which I guess explains why Prescott was involved.
10 comments:
Presscott meant the bung to the estate agent
surely your not implying that presscott was economical with the truth are you ? that would be shocking.
People around here complain about increased housing costs. If only they knew.
It seems to me that once you hang the tag 'affordable housing' on it, which carried overtone of 'crap houses with ASBO neighbours', no one is going to want to life there; even if the government pretends otherwise, people have an intuitive understanding of the fact that markets exist. And 'social housing' sounds even worse.
Prescott is a muppet- but the bit I especially liked about the "affordable housing" was his proposal to build it on a flood plain!
One does wonder what passes through the brain.
Incidentally, I am not entirely convinced that the use of Milton Keynes and environs for further expansion on the cheap makes a great deal of sense; the infrastructure of the area is generally pretty good for its current population (a few roads, like Monk's Way, aside), compared to many other UK towns, but a significant expansion as planned by the Government needs to be accompanied by significant infrastructure work, too.
£175K affordable?
For a couple both earning £30K a year 3 times their joint income is £180K.
Housing is not affordable, unless you buy in a sink estate, condemning your offspring to a life of pretty crime and drug abuse.
You just knew that this was going to happen, if Labour organised a p*ss up in a brewery they would still manage to run out of beer....!
You're not limited to 3 times joint income if you don't have any debt (Nationwide, at least when I was looking for a mortgage, look at how much money you have every month rather than your gross salary). Of course, you have to take account of the fact that interest rates can rise and leave you in some trouble.
'Of course, you have to take account of the fact that interest rates can rise and leave you in some trouble' (adam)
Yes, my thoughts exactly. If they bomb Iran, $150 oil prices would equate to 7% interest rates before long.
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