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Even the Rich Are Being Priced Out of Central London

citylab.com

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Re: Even the Rich Are Being Priced Out of Central London

#41

Post by jewbacca »

conception wrote: post #8
s_q_b wrote: post #5

In DC, there's a big glut in foreign capital flowing in from foreign oligarchs and elites, particularly from Russia and China. Residential properties in so-called "safe cities" are both a form of investment and a potential life-raft should the political situation change in their nations.In addition to the artificially low supply created by extreme height limitations, this has caused prices to skyrocket. The apartment…

Vancouver recently enacted an anti foreign buyer tax that seems to have almost completely stopped the practice. Curious if we will start to see more and more of this local protionism.

> almost completely stopped the practice

That is way overselling any evidence of what's happened. The tax was enacted less than a month ago. Volumes are way down right now, but the effect on prices are uncertain. I think the consensus is that people are in wait-and-see mode.

Re: Even the Rich Are Being Priced Out of Central London

#42

Post by [deleted] »

conception wrote: post #8
s_q_b wrote: post #5

In DC, there's a big glut in foreign capital flowing in from foreign oligarchs and elites, particularly from Russia and China. Residential properties in so-called "safe cities" are both a form of investment and a potential life-raft should the political situation change in their nations.In addition to the artificially low supply created by extreme height limitations, this has caused prices to skyrocket. The apartment…

Vancouver recently enacted an anti foreign buyer tax that seems to have almost completely stopped the practice. Curious if we will start to see more and more of this local protionism.

[deleted]

Re: Even the Rich Are Being Priced Out of Central London

#43

Post by melling »

pjc50 wrote: post #32
melling wrote: post #7

If only there was a way to make living within a city less important. There must be some way to move large numbers of people over "great distances" (50-100 miles) in a more commutable time.

There is. It's full. (Most of the towns in the southeast of England are dominated by commuters to London)

What about the other directions? How many people commute from Birmingham, for example? It's only 126 miles away? That's a 30 commute sometime this century. It's really just a question of when.

Re: Even the Rich Are Being Priced Out of Central London

#44

Post by jonknee »

r00fus wrote: post #23
antisthenes wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless every desirable city introduces this tax uniformly, doesn't this just shift the burden from Vancouver onto other cities?

This is why it should go viral. Wealthy individuals/ buying houses in droves to sit empty does not benefit anyone in the long run. What happens when the bubble pops?

I think they should be allowed to buy the homes, but then face stiff property taxes (with a homestead exemption for actual residents). The property taxes on Billionaire's Row in NYC are often absurdly low:

http://www.citylab.com/housing/2015/05/why-billionaires-dont...

Re: Even the Rich Are Being Priced Out of Central London

#45

Post by [deleted] »

toephu2 wrote: post #11
smitherfield wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, it's a pretty common sentiment around these parts. (Replace "London" with "Bay Area") (It's a very rare person who ever thinks of themselves as "rich enough." Most billionaires don't)

How many billionaires do you personally know?

[deleted]

Re: Even the Rich Are Being Priced Out of Central London

#46

Post by jonknee »

tome wrote: post #37
jandrese wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People dumping hundreds of millions into the market just to hide it from external forces aren't interested in being landlords.

They don't want to make a few percent on their capital?

They probably don't want any more of a paper trail leading back to them than they have to.

Re: Even the Rich Are Being Priced Out of Central London

#47

Post by wehadfun »

msrpotus wrote: post #13

If they aren't living there, why don't they just rent a lot of the houses out? I guess they don't need the money but that has always struck me as weird.

Squatters seem like they would cause a problem. These places probably have staffs for the upkeep though.

Re: Even the Rich Are Being Priced Out of Central London

#48

Post by Symbiote »

msrpotus wrote: post #13

If they aren't living there, why don't they just rent a lot of the houses out? I guess they don't need the money but that has always struck me as weird.

A colleague has a cousin that owns at least a couple of properties like this.

The penthouse apartment was available at all times to impress visitors (e.g. my colleague), and included a chauffeur who acted as a tour guide. The owner used it himself occasionally, if he was visiting the city for a business trip.

Re: Even the Rich Are Being Priced Out of Central London

#49

Post by yomly »

virtuexru wrote: post #3

Oh no; the rich aren't rich enough guys!

While I do enjoy the irony of this situation and your post, the schadenfreud isn't helpful. We're all in this boat together:

When an unbridgeable gap is opening up between even the traditional "elite" (bankers, lawyers, consultants, doctors and now software engineers) and the 1% you have a real problem with social mobility.

If a country has decent access to education, it's not unreasonable to aspire to reach the "elite" with some smarts, luck and grit. That fundamental hope is what ticks over the capitalist incentivisation we have based our economics on. It's what inspired my parents to leave their home country and climb many socioeconomic rungs.

If you remove that belief in the system, people start signing out of society and then you have a big problem. Like Brexit. Like Trump.

Then suddenly war doesn't seem so impossible anymore...

Re: Even the Rich Are Being Priced Out of Central London

#50

Post by keithpeter »

r00fus wrote: post #23
antisthenes wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless every desirable city introduces this tax uniformly, doesn't this just shift the burden from Vancouver onto other cities?

This is why it should go viral. Wealthy individuals/ buying houses in droves to sit empty does not benefit anyone in the long run. What happens when the bubble pops?

What happens until the bubble pops I think is the question. To quote the OA...

"In the evenings an eerie stillness settles on [the area]. That’s because these new owners are so rich in both money and global property that their London addresses frequently sit empty, functioning more as dust-sheeted deposit boxes rather than actual homes."

This is not why we have cities. We have cities to allow interaction. Look where the artists, musicians and marginal people are going, for they are the new thing. Hint: it isn't London.

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