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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

#101

Post by bogomipz »

emmelaich wrote: post #99
yodsanklai wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect it's a pretty common phenomenon. I recently visited Venice with a Venetian friend of mine. He mentioned that most of the apartments in the historical center were empty.

Yes, I rented a flat in Rome right near the Trevi fountain, in a beautiful old stone two storey building with a lovely courtyard. There would have been somewhere between 20 and 40 apartments there. There was a software / techical business of some sort in one corner, but I don't think I saw anyone else. (Thank you AirBNB)

Did you rent the flat from AirBnB then? I'm not understanding your comment.

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

#103

Post by TheCowboy »

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…

I believe problems with the metro system becoming completely unreliable have also caused prices in DC itself to increase, since it forces people who work in DC to live closer to their jobs.

There is a lot of new construction in different parts of Virginia along the orange line, but the vacancy rates are extremely high. Fewer people want to pay a premium to live by an orange line station with the current problems.

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

#104

Post by valkea »

r00fus wrote: post #19

And... this is what happens when you don't tax foreign cash infusions. For those who think we should get rid of taxes on cash repatriations - this is likely an outcome.

Foreign capital investment is great, so beneficial to the economy.

The problem is with the housing market. Perverse subsidies, out of date zoning laws, and a lot of nimby based lobbying. Fix these things and I doubt anyone, including foreign investors, would be parking capital in property and just leaving it unused.

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

#105

Post by leviathant »

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…

The same thing's happening in Philadelphia, so no doubt New York and DC are running out of places to snatch up. It's insane. I landed a pretty sweet deal on an old building close to the Delaware River for ~$265,000. A vacant lot near us sold for about the same a couple of years before that. This year, the lot behind us went on the market for $600,000 - a number I thought was pretty absurd.

But two days after it had been on the market, I saw a couple of guys walking through the vacant lots. I introduced myself and asked if they had any questions about the neighborhood. In a heavy accent, the younger guy asked "Who owns these other lots? Do you think they would sell them?" They wanted to buy up every vacant lot and wrap our building with condos. I mentioned the vacant lot that had just gone up for $600,000 - the older Russian smiled, saying "We make good offer. Seven hundred thousand cash."

I figured maybe they were boasting. That week, the lot went off the market.

On one hand, I feel like we got in when the getting was good, but on the other hand, I'm not terribly excited about what's going to get built around us. I think my general feeling about it is best summed up as, "Oh boy, here we go."

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

#107

Post by Tiktaalik »

mtkd wrote: post #68

I walked from Kings Cross to Marylebone at dusk recently - half way, I took the road up from the main Euston Road - walking through mostly residential - barely an apartment window with a light on - it's just money parked in property - the parks don't have kids playing in them any more The recent Vancouver tax changes have worked, I suspect/hope we'll start seeing that repeated in every city thats had it's life sucked…

I think it remains to be seen whether the Vancouver tax changes have worked. There's been a bit of a slowdown in sales, but that could just be investors taking a brief pause to evaluate the new situation.

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

#108

Post by slavik81 »

tezza wrote: post #75
jonknee wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

They will pay pensioners to live there 'on paper' to meet your homestead requirement. The whole tax penalty is thwarted that way

Right now I'm paying rent like a sucker when I could be paid to live here instead? Sounds good to me.

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

#109

Post by chadgeidel »

marcosdumay wrote: post #78
chadgeidel wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like living in the city. I would prefer to live in one. Denver housing isn't so crazy yet that I can't afford to live here, but it's pretty close. I make a pretty damn good salary and would struggle finding a house that doesn't require significant rennovation in the city. Yes, I could move to suburbia - I could commute slightly further, etc, etc. I would prefer not to. I would prefer that my neighbors are people an…

> I like living in the city. I would prefer to live in one. I'd bet once a decent public transportation system is inline, the termination points of the larger trains will become as much city-like as the center, but much more affordable.

And Denver has a pretty good one! (http://www.rtd-denver.com/) I could go a bit south or a bit west of town and be downtown in 20 minutes. It's on my mind.

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

#110

Post by [deleted] »

melling wrote: post #43
pjc50 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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