Green Assembly Member Darren Johnson calls for a “radical change in direction” in the housing market, as the Mayor of London continues to promote house and land sale to private investors.
Darren Johnson AM has accused the Mayor of promoting the sale of land and homes at MIPIM-UK to “big developers and rich investors” in his opportunity areas, following analysis of the prices of homes sold in the areas to date. Land Registry figures show the average price of homes sold in past developments in the ‘opportunity areas’ where there are new opportunities that the Mayor will promote:
· Vauxhall Tower, Lambeth: average £2,116,539 – 59x median income
· Neo Bankside, Southwark: £1,668,141 – 47x
· Wallace Court, Kidbrooke, Greenwich: £370,680 – 10x
· Strata, Southwark: 284 flats, £368,069 – 10x
· Woodberry Down, Hackney: £352,381 – 10x
· Colindale, Barnet: £285,190 – 8x
· Saffron Square, Croydon: £226,156 – 6x
· Hale Village, Tottenham, Haringey: £219,675 – 6x
To be affordable to the median household, the prices shouldn’t be more than 4.5 times their income. The Mayor’s own research found that two thirds of new homes are bought by investors.
Vauxhall Tower, part of the St. George Wharf development. Photograph courtesy of Gareth Jones.
Darren Johnson said: “The Mayor is speaking at MIPIM-UK for one reason: to encourage big developers and rich investors to buy up London’s land and homes. He wants them to demolish more council housing, and build tower blocks of luxury flats for landlords and speculators. Most Londoners are completely priced out of these so-called opportunity areas.
“I fully support the campaigners calling for a radical change in direction. We need to stop speculators with a land value tax, build more social housing instead of demolishing it, and give private tenants more stability and certainty over their rents.”