UK Has Higher Housing Costs Than Any Other Developed Economy
Finland is the only country in the OECDi that spends more on housing than British workers as a proportion of total spending. And after you adjust for quality, in terms of size, age and proximity to jobs, the UK has higher housing costs than any other developed economy, research by living-standards thinktank the Resolution Foundation shows. People living in the central area of New York City enjoy more floor space than the average English person, and almost a quarter more than Londoners. On average England has more modest home sizes than the likes of Germany, Denmark, France, Taiwan and Japan (Japan had historically been used to smaller homes but overtook England recently). No country in the EU has older housing stock than Britain, with almost four in 10 current UK homes being built before the end of the Second World War. That's double the percentage in the Netherlands and almost four times as many as in Finland, the only country spending more on housing overall than the UK. Partly as a direct result of that, UK houses also perform poorly when it comes to energy efficiency and, says the Resolution Foundation, most likely damp too. Brits spend longer commuting than the EU average as well, so our expensive, small, old, poor-quality housing isn't even located in convenient places. Perhaps surprsingly then, we aren't in a habit of buying more housing than we need. In Europe only Ireland and Germany have lower rates of second-home ownership than England. Austria and Canada, countries with similar spending levels overall to the UK, buy almost a quarter more housing than British people do. The government introduced the Renters (Reform) Bill in 2019, which set out plans to strengthen renters' rights, ban "no-fault" evictions and set a Decent Homes Standard for the private sector (it already exists to set minimum standards for social housing). But, almost five years on, it has failed to make its way through parliament and it's unclear when it's set to return. Labour has proposed a "renters' charter" which would also ban "no-fault" evictions, and includes things like rights for renters to have pets or make reasonable alterations to a property. It would also introduce a four-month notice period for landlords and end automatic eviction for rent arrears. Sir Keir Starmer has also said he would reinstate targets to build 300,000 homes a year under a Labour government. That was a 2019 Conservative manifesto pledge, but it has never been met and since been downgraded to "advisory" rather than a target by Housing Secretary Michael Gove. There are also different "advisories" for more social housing, again downgraded from targets which weren't being met. Rishi Sunak said Tory members, activists and councillors expressed "no support" for "nationally imposed, top-down set of targets... telling them what to do". But Lee Rowley, Gove's current housing minister (and the 16th different Conservative housing minister since 2010), publicly disagreed with his party's stance in February.
Tags : Finland Resolution Foundation Germany Denmark France Taiwan Japan British workers