Allister Heath discusses how to tackle the UK rent crisis

Raleigh Addington
Raleigh Addington
editor at Chartwell Speakers

Editor of City A.M, Allister Heath’s article ‘Rent controls are madness, we need to build more homes’ was published in yesterday’s Telegraph, focusing on the UK rent crisis. UK rent, as well as house prices are becoming “out of control”; in London the cost of renting is over half the average wage in two thirds of boroughs. An issue which has come to the forefront of media and political attention, Allister gives his views of what can and should be done to solve these problems.

Allister describes tentative plans for rent controls as “complete madness”, arguing that these would counteract what he believes to be the solution: “either to reduce demand or to increase supply, or both.”  Opposing measures proposed by some politicians, he  suggests that they need to focus on the causes of the crisis, rather than simply addressing higher rents which are the manifestation of this crisis. He claims that within the housing market “Liberalisation is essential.”

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