Average house prices are at a record high. Why are newspapers saying this is good?

The average asking price in April broke the previous high of £310,471 reached in June 2016 [Image: Bloomberg/Getty Images].

This is not an achievement – it is an indictment.

The fact that average house prices in the UK have hit a new record high means they are further than ever before from the reach of the people who need them most.

This Writer must, therefore, agree with Jeremy Corbyn, who tweeted: “This has gone way too far. Labour will build homes that people can actually afford to live in.”

That’s right – Labour plans to build a million new houses over the five years after victory in the general election on June 8 – half of them council houses.

This will bring the average house price down – and This Writer can already hear the naysayers bleating about it.

“It’ll harm the economy!”

“It’ll create negative equity!”

What they really mean is, “It’ll ruin my investment!”

That may be so, but the complainers – all of whom will, of course, be rich – are facing a dilemma of their own making.

They allowed the Tories to come into power and the Tories allowed house building to slow down to almost nothing – specifically in order to raise prices beyond the reach of the poor and those on average wages or salaries.

It’s part of the Conservative Party’s war on the poor – intentionally making the essentials of life so expensive, and work so ill-paid, that people have to take any jobs they can – no matter how awful – simply to try to make ends meet.

The economy won’t be harmed by Labour’s house-building programme, of course.

Building work is hugely beneficial to an economy, and the multiplier effect means any government investment in house-building will result in a much larger increase in prosperity.

Once poorer people are able to get homes of their own again, they’ll have more disposable cash – and we all know (don’t we?) that the economy benefits the most from the multiplier effect if money goes through the highest number of owners, as it would if it started out in the hands of the poorest.

So let’s deride the economically-illiterate newsrags that have applauded the house-price disaster…

And praise the Labour Party for setting out a sensible policy to address the problem.

The housing market continues to defy fears of a post-referendum slump after sellers’ asking prices hit a new record high of more than £313,000 on average in April.

Across England and Wales, the average price tag on a property being put on the market increased by £3,547 – or 1.1% month-on-month – to reach £313,655.

Source: Asking prices for homes rise to record average of £313,655 | Money | The Guardian

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4 thoughts on “Average house prices are at a record high. Why are newspapers saying this is good?

  1. Barry Davies

    The housing market is supply and demand which is why some areas such as London the prices are going up by huge amounts but in other areas they are essentially losing money, as with all statistics there is more to it than meets they eye.

    1. Mike Sivier Post author

      That’s right – supply and demand. Tories are deliberately restricting supply to increase demand. Bad for the economy, bad for the people, good for the rich.

  2. chriskitcher

    Hi Mike,
    Something is happening in that whilst I am subscribed to your site I am not getting updates as normal. Everything this end appears to be OK is there a problem your end.

    1. Mike Sivier Post author

      There’s no problem – I’ve just been concerned with getting myself elected to my local county council and haven’t written as many articles as I otherwise might.

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