notes

There's a housing crisis in Britain. Not enough homes are being built. In particular, not enough affordable homes are being built. Confusing word, 'affordable': it depends who you are and how much money you have. I prefer the less ambiguous 'low-cost' or just plain 'cheap'. If you're wealthy there is no housing crisis - there are plenty of homes you can buy - and wealthy people do buy them. Chinese billionaires buy luxury apartments as investments and to offshore their wealth; Premiership footballers buy mansions with stables, pools and gyms; the middle-classes have their holiday homes on the coast. All these are un/under-occupied and do nothing to lessen the housing crisis. At the bottom end of the market, where young people have to look for their first home, there's less choice. For your first home - home one - you cannot be choosy about location, space, facilities, state of repair, design quality,... You will have limited choice in the range of re...