That, in turn, is why 80 per cent of houses built between the turn of the century and the turn of this year had been acquired by investors - and why the government estimates by 2032 a third of all houses will be owned by private landlords. Buy-to-let remains the only area of the mortgage market still increasing in terms of issuance.
No wonder prices have continued to increase. No wonder younger people are so consistently disenfranchised and many have resigned themselves to a life of renting at increasingly unaffordable rates.
All I’m asking for is a level playing field. If you’re buying a residential property, you should do so on the same terms as any other buyer, whether you plan to live in the property yourself or not.
Of course, for the policy to work you’d also need some rent controls to prevent the yield being re-established by increasing income at the expense of consumers (although the market ultimately wouldn’t sustain such sharp rises).
Labour has covered that side of the equation with plans to cap rental increases and extend tenancies, but has failed to offer a necessary policy counterweight which would be the best way to undermine rampant price inflation over the longer term and help people onto the housing ladder.
And this is the party which removed the mortgage interest relief for residential buyers in 2000, after Gordon Brown dismissed it as a “middle class perk”.
It’s a bit late now to call for the policy, given that the parties have crystallised their election pitch. Instead I’ll just praise the Greens for a pledge that, in fairness, sits more comfortably in their world view than that of their rivals.
It’s just a shame they’ll never have the influence to do anything with it.
ashley.wassall@ft.com
