The Mayor’s strategy of encouraging investor-buyers has left residents renting expensive homes on insecure tenancies argues Green Assembly Member Darren Johnson.
Photograph of housing in Highbury, London, courtesy of David Holt.
The Mayor of London has told the annual Mansion House London Government Dinner that it would be “utterly nuts” to deter foreign investment in London’s housing market. But the Mayor’s research has found that two thirds of new homes in London are already bought by investors, and that one third of the buyers are from overseas. Darren Johnson has published a report, Crumbs for Londoners, arguing that the Mayor’s strategy of encouraging investor-buyers has left residents renting expensive homes on insecure tenancies.
Darren commented, “Far from helping developers to build more homes, rich investors are just helping them sell homes for higher prices. The Mayor is completely wrong, the last thing we need is even more demand in this booming market.”
“The Mayor should be pushing for taxes on land and property to dampen down demand and stabilise prices, while regulating the private rented sector and building more social housing.”