16:56 PM, 7th December 2023, About 12 months ago
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The UK is facing a rent crisis as record net migration has increased the demand for rental accommodation, according to the boss of Zoopla, one of the UK’s leading property websites.
Richard Donnell, the executive director of Zoopla, told the Telegraph that renting was the ‘first port of call’ for most people who moved to the UK, putting pressure on the supply of rental properties and driving up rents.
He said that many landlords were leaving the sector due to tax changes and regulatory reforms, creating a shortage of rental homes.
According to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), net migration to the UK reached a record 745,000 in 2022, meaning that more people arrived than left the country.
In the two years to June 2023, nearly 1.3 million people immigrated to the UK, mostly from outside the EU.
Mr Donnell told the Telegraph: “We have a triple whammy on the demand side, one element of which is migration.”
He also points to the number of international students heading into the UK – but there isn’t enough purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) to cope.
The ONS says that 263,000 international students came to the UK in the year to June, mainly from India and China.
He says: “And so you get an overspill of that student demand into the private rented sector.”
Mr Donnell said that one in 10 homes that are advertised on Zoopla are being sold by a private landlord.
He added: “The total number of private rented homes in this country is stuck at 5.5m and it has been for the last seven years.”
Mr Donnell also told the newspaper that some migrants would buy their home eventually, but many remain in the rental sector for longer than usual due to high interest rates and house prices.
He also said that a strong jobs market was fuelling demand for rental accommodation, as more people moved for work.
David Miles, an economist at the Office for Budget Responsibility, backed up Mr Donnell’s suggestion that migration was playing a part in rapidly climbing rates.
He told the Telegraph: “It may be that recent high rates of increase in rents is linked to population increase and to fast growth in student numbers.
“It would be strange if that was not a factor.”
The ONS data showed that rents across the UK increased by a record 8.4% in the year to October 2023, the highest annual growth rate since the series began in 2015.
The average rent in the UK was £1,029 per month in October, up from £949 a year earlier.
Rising rents have contributed to a rise in homelessness and affordability problems for many renters, especially in London and the South East, where rents are the highest.
Charities have warned that the rent crisis is pushing more people into poverty and debt and called for more investment in social and affordable housing.
SCP
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Sign Up16:51 PM, 8th January 2024, About 11 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 08/01/2024 - 11:41
Dear Beaver
This will become unnecessarily didactic, and perhaps hurtful.
Indian history is not taught, or is written by the British or Oxford educated Indians.
Let us just stick to 2 facts. GDP and British responsibility for famine, even when there was food in the country.
Re: GDP
India's share of world GDP fell from 27 per cent in 1700 to 3 per cent by the time the British left in 1947. (By contrast, Britain's share was about 3 per cent in 1700, rising to a peak of 9 per cent in 1870.)
If you are interested in the question of famine, please look it up yourself. You will be surprised at the number of famines directly attributable to the British.
Churchill is often said to be the "Greatest Englisman ever" (in the land of Shakespeare, Newton, Darwin, Farraday, Maxwell et al). Just look up Churchill's role in the Bengal famine.
I think this should not be pursued as a matter of general discussion. Interested parties can do their own research or continue in their safe ignorance.
Beaver
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Sign Up21:46 PM, 9th January 2024, About 11 months ago
Reply to the comment left by SCP at 08/01/2024 - 16:51
Thanks. I'm very familiar with British history. And we can all be selective about which parts of it we choose to focus on.
Shinh
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Sign Up23:05 PM, 9th January 2024, About 11 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 08/01/2024 - 11:41
Suggest you read the history books written by the locals in the actual locations where the British have been and not the ones used in the UK written by the British
Eg bengal famine, 30million starved by Winston Churchill!
Jaliawala bagh Amritsar ma's murder of people by blocking the exits with riflemen and killing all non armed persons from elderly, to women to children, a dry well filled up dead bodies with people trying to escape the indiscriminate shooting by the British !!!
Taxing poor farmers
The list is endless spanning 250 years
Shinh
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Sign Up23:13 PM, 9th January 2024, About 11 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 08/01/2024 - 11:41Seems your still reading colonial material. !
Which local books have you read authored by local country persons ?
A list would be appreciated
Shinh
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Sign Up23:21 PM, 9th January 2024, About 11 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Robin Pearce at 06/01/2024 - 13:33
Switzerland is built on fraud, theft, national wealth of sovereign states plundered by dictators and allowing persons from across the globe to hide their wealth via Swiss banking laws of anonymity not a good example to cite as an ideal operating model for high GBP growth etc. However mirrors the colonial Conduct of stealing and plundering wealth of other sovereign states.