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.
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.