London Question Time: Housing crisis threatens stability

The UK’s main political parties have been accused of putting the country’s stability at risk by failing to tackle London’s housing crisis. Speaking at the latest Estates Gazette Question Time at the Fitzroy Place development in Fitzrovia, a panel of experts warned that the country’s leaders were playing politics with the country’s housing need. “I can’t see any political party addressing the housing issue in the short term or even in the long term,” said YouGov head of political and social research Joe Twyman. “There’s no doubt that politicians have benefited from certain demographics doing well out of increases in property prices.” Along with a discussion on a possible referendum on EU membership, the panel singled out the negative portrayal of foreign investment in housing as a key risk to London’s global success. Stephen Down, Savills’ head of Central London investment, warned of “political scare stories” about foreign buyers leaving homes empty in central London, while Southwark council chief exectuvie Eleanor Kelly labelled such tactics “scaremongering”. “Where it happens at all it’s miniscule and at the very very top of the market. Most people, however rich, want to see the rental income. It’s scaremongering by a particular sector, and massively exaggerated,” said Kelly. But Twyman warned that even the perception of such problems could aggravate young people and put at risk the social stability on which London’s success is founded.