It’s only owner propaganda if you think that landlords selling their properties is a bad thing; the article doesn’t say it is. Besides the landlord and landlords’ representatives, they also quote countervailing facts or views from: SpareRoom, the London Renters’ Union, and the government.
A more balanced article would challenge the line about selling up reducing the supply of affordable housing as that’s nonsense unless they sold to someone planning to knock down. It’s much more likely that they sold things to other landlords or to people who’ll be moving from rented accommodation, so the housing supply stays the same.
Not to mention private landlords and affordable housing are opposite concepts. Even if it was knocked down to build a park bench factory. It would be a reduction in general housing not affordable.
That word was clearly used to try and scare uninformed readers.
Yes, they should have more on that. I agree that in the long run it won’t make much difference (and greater protection for renters is sorely needed) but probably in the short term there is something to it, because the supply of rental housing and the supply of owner-occupied housing are not completely equivalent, that is, one cannot move freely from one to the other. That means that exchanging some rental supply for OO supply may, at least in the short term, cause house prices to go down and rents to go up (slightly).
Obviously what should happen is that people will be better able to buy a first home and vacate rented accommodation for OO housing, bringing the pressure back down, but that will not be instantaneous. So yeah, better analysis needed, but it’s not like the concerns there are just made up with nothing underpinning htem.
Ohh no! Why is BBC running owner propaganda
Asking for a friend
It’s only owner propaganda if you think that landlords selling their properties is a bad thing; the article doesn’t say it is. Besides the landlord and landlords’ representatives, they also quote countervailing facts or views from: SpareRoom, the London Renters’ Union, and the government.
A more balanced article would challenge the line about selling up reducing the supply of affordable housing as that’s nonsense unless they sold to someone planning to knock down. It’s much more likely that they sold things to other landlords or to people who’ll be moving from rented accommodation, so the housing supply stays the same.
Not to mention private landlords and affordable housing are opposite concepts. Even if it was knocked down to build a park bench factory. It would be a reduction in general housing not affordable.
That word was clearly used to try and scare uninformed readers.
Yes, they should have more on that. I agree that in the long run it won’t make much difference (and greater protection for renters is sorely needed) but probably in the short term there is something to it, because the supply of rental housing and the supply of owner-occupied housing are not completely equivalent, that is, one cannot move freely from one to the other. That means that exchanging some rental supply for OO supply may, at least in the short term, cause house prices to go down and rents to go up (slightly).
Obviously what should happen is that people will be better able to buy a first home and vacate rented accommodation for OO housing, bringing the pressure back down, but that will not be instantaneous. So yeah, better analysis needed, but it’s not like the concerns there are just made up with nothing underpinning htem.