Policy and Public Affairs at The Housing Forum. Interested in UK housing policy, planning, economics, housebuilding, energy, social policy. Views are my own. Cambridge based. https://housingforum.org.uk/
Anna Clarke
Loading...
Some of the higher spec student housing would probably convert ok to the 'co-living' sector - small studio flatlets let to young professionals. But I suspect the student housing that's most likely to be hard to let will be the tiny bedrooms that don't work as permanent housing for any other group.
With demographic change, concerns about the value of going to university and tighter rules for foreign students, I suspect we'll see more of these applications to convert student housing to other uses.
I've written more about these ideas in this collection of essays. Some other good ideas too to support first time buyers: www.pocketliving.com/bucket/pocke...
And levelling out the market is really helpful for the housebuilding sector. Building homes takes time - the sector isn't able to increase output much in a boom, but loses capacity in a downturn, which is hard to build back. If prices were more stable, we could build more homes.
There aren't many other economic levers that can be pulled like this - Help to Buy could stimulate the market, but it was arguably left in place too long previously when prices were already growing fast. In contrast stamp duty can be flicked on and off more easily.
Stamp duty is a lever Governments have used successfully in the past to try to level out the market - stamp duty holidays encourage people to buy when the market is sluggish, and putting it back up again can help stem a runaway market (and raise useful tax).
