Empty building/office on Crystal Palace Road

[Earl Aelfheah]

???? Wrote:

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> NIMBY city - we've got a fooking housin shortage

> in case people hadn't noticed

We have a housing affordability problem.

[????]

Largely becuse there arent enough homes. Google Supply/Demand.

[Earl Aelfheah]

Quids, you're being a bit patronising to be honest. The fact is that there are a lot of reasons why property prices have soared over the last few decades and they're far more complicated than just supply and demand. Of course, the population of London has increased and supply has not kept pace - but that is not the whole story.

[DaveR]

There's little doubt that London has a housing shortage and that increasing supply is part of the answer, and re-development of unused sites in areas of high demand is an obvious place to start. However, it's also true that applying the economics of residential development is an easy way to make commercial development appear unviable, and planning authorities need to be alive to it; to be fair, they often are where the development goes against the local plan or is otherwise in an area where commercial or mixed use is obviously desirable.

The problem with this site is that its a bloody great warehouse on a residential street, and in an area where there doesn't seem to be a shortage of smaller scale commercial property. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the cost of redevelopment of the site into marketable commercial units makes it unviable, which would explain why it has been empty.

[Jeremy]

Totally unsuitable location for large commercial premises. Better off as flats.

[uncleglen]

Transport upgrades take so long that they are obsolete as soon as they are finished. Same with housing projects, school expansions etc etc....

[Henry_17]

rahrahrah,

What factors that do not relate to supply and demand have influenced house prices?

I reckon that your points in favour of regulating in favour of commercial usage are valid all else equal, but that all else is clearly not equal here. People would not be debating living wages on this forum if there was adequate supply of affordable housing, affordable housing is inextricably linked to supply. Do you think at this stage London society should prioritize the people who serve you in the Cinema having a shot of ever in their lifetime being able to afford their own home without parental assistance, or reserving unused space for undefined commercial usage at some point in the future?

The other point in favour of conversion of commercial use to residential is that in two of the three main commercial property segments - retail and office - the trends are unequivocally towards lower intensity usage given the high growth of online retailer, and less high growth but still steady trends towards home working.

[Earl Aelfheah]

Henry_17 - what I meant was that it's not as simple as implied, when someone says - 'build more houses, it's just supply and demand'. That implies that the only solutions are supply side ones and also that there is an easily reached point of finite demand (there is at some point, but we're not dealing simply with a domestic 'homes' market).

The fact is that the huge increases in property prices are not only the result of increased population. Policies have been implemented which have been aimed at increasing prices by encouraging speculation. I don't think it's at all likely (or necessarily desirable) that we will be able to build the number of properties necessary to satisfy the latent demand in the international, property speculation market - certainly not to the extent where it would make a significant impact on affordability for the average low paid worker in London.

It is also true that there are different models of supply. There is a big difference between the building of 1 bedroom luxury flats and the creation of good quality, socially rented properties, or secure, long term rental contracts in the private sector.

So I would invest in the 'right kind' of supply, and pursue policies which target the 'wrong kind' of demand. Use the taxation system to discourage people building up huge property portfolios and restrict the number of overseas speculators.

So yes, I guess I misspoke, but what I was getting at is building 'luxury flats' everywhere, whilst selling off social housing, ignoring 'affordable housing' quotas and marketing new builds in Singapore and Malaysia is unlikely to help the barista who was mentioned.

[ernesto]

rahrahrah Wrote:

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> Quids, you're being a bit patronising to be

> honest. The fact is that there are a lot of

> reasons why property prices have soared over the

> last few decades and they're far more complicated

> than just supply and demand. Of course, the

> population of London has increased and supply has

> not kept pace - but that is not the whole story.

innit