http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/13/opinion/sunday/londons-great-exodus.html LONDON — OUR neighbors Lauren and Matt and their kids moved out of London to Cambridge the other week. Bibi, Andy and their two left for Bristol in June. Another of my 8-year-old’s classmates and her family are heading out after Christmas. In my book this is a trend. The moves are not examples of the life cycle of the... [more]
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/13/opinion/sunday/londons-great-exodus.html
LONDON — OUR neighbors Lauren and Matt and their kids moved out of London to Cambridge the other week. Bibi, Andy and their two left for Bristol in June. Another of my 8-year-old’s classmates and her family are heading out after Christmas.
In my book this is a trend.
The moves are not examples of the life cycle of the striving middle classes. Nor are they examples of middle-class folks being thrown on hard times by the sluggish British economy. The families moving out had good incomes.
Matt, who had been looking for a house for more than three years, summed up the reason for leaving best: “I don’t want to be a slave to a mortgage for the next 25 years.” Given the astronomic rise in house prices here, he wasn’t speaking metaphorically.
This is what happens when property in your city becomes a global reserve currency. For that is what property in London has become, first and foremost.
The property market is no longer about people making a long-term investment in owning their shelter, but a place for the world’s richest people to park their money at an annualized rate of return of around 10 percent. It has made my adopted hometown a no-go area for increasing numbers of the middle class.
According to Britain’s Office for National Statistics, London house prices rose by 9.7 percent between July 2012 and July 2013. In the surrounding suburbs they rose by a mere 2.6 percent. The farther away from London you go, the lower the numbers get. When you finally cross the border into Scotland, house prices actually decline by 2 percent.
The gap between London prices and those of the rest of the country is now at a historic high, and there is only one way to explain it. London houses and apartments are a form of money.
The reasons are simple to understand. In 2011, at the height of the euro zone crisis, citizens of the two countries at the epicenter of the cataclysm — Greece and Italy — bought 400 million pounds’ worth of London bricks and mortar. The Italian and Greek rich, fearing the single currency would collapse, got their money out of euros and parked it someplace where government was relatively stable, and the tax regime was gentle — very, very gentle.
Considering that tax evasion in Italy and Greece was a significant contributory factor to their debt problems, it just seems grotesquely cynical to encourage this kind of behavior.
But that’s what Britain in general and London in particular do. The city is essentially a tax haven with great theater, free museums and formidable dining. If you can demonstrate you have a residence in another country, you are taxed only on your British earnings.
And the savings on property taxes are phenomenal.
The property taxes on Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s $20 million London home come to £2,143.30 per year. That’s $3,430. Clearly, the mayor bought in at the right time. The Google executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, is reported to be house hunting here — he’s looking in the £30 million (about $48 million) price range. Yet he will pay a similar amount in property tax.
There are other facets of London real estate as a medium of exchange. British gross domestic product has yet to return to pre-crash levels, but the financial-services industry has roared back. Banks are paying out big bonuses again, and anyone looking for a safe investment is getting into London property.
From the top of Parliament Hill, on Hampstead Heath, look eastward. Out around the Olympic Park and beyond you see clumps of high-rise apartment buildings sprouting like toadstools in a meadow after a particularly heavy rain. These aren’t being built to meet the calamitous shortage of affordable family housing in the city; they are studio and one- or two-bedroom apartments. The developments are financed by “off plan” buying. Bonus babies look at the blueprints and put their money down with no intention of living in what they’ve bought — just collecting decades of rent.
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Response by ewasnick
about 12 years ago
Posts: 17
Member since: May 2010
They did have one... Look up Red Ken.
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Response by Truth
about 12 years ago
Posts: 5641
Member since: Dec 2009
"The kids in Bristol are hot as a pistol..."
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Response by alanhart
about 12 years ago
Posts: 12397
Member since: Feb 2007
imbecile
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Response by Truth
about 12 years ago
Posts: 5641
Member since: Dec 2009
Knives are "sharp", pistols are hot.
Cambridge is a nice place to live and raise a family. Bristol has good weather(for England): sunny and warm.
In Summer gets hot and in spring and autumn there's rain. It's England.
It's a quick trip to Bath and Gloucestershire. Better than living with kids in London.
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Response by fieldschester
about 12 years ago
Posts: 3525
Member since: Jul 2013
Gloucestershire sounds like a nice place.
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Response by 9d8b7988045e4953a882
about 12 years ago
Posts: 236
Member since: May 2013
> The gap between London prices and those of the rest of the country is now at a historic high, and there is only one way to explain it. London houses and apartments are a form of money.
I think that there is some concern that government might seize money from peoples' bank and retirement accounts, which happened in Poland a few weeks ago. There have been similar actions in Hungary and Cypress. Buyers might be trying to protect their wealth by parking it in a London apartment, even if they don't actually live there. This creates a bizarre situation where lavish apartments sit empty at the expense of people who live and work in London.
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Response by Truth
about 12 years ago
Posts: 5641
Member since: Dec 2009
fieldschester: It's very nice. Homes with horse stables. Clean, quiet and safe.
The "trend" of people with children moving out of London actually started in 2004, right after the Madrid metro bombings. Many London residents remembered "The Troubles" and knew it was only a matter of time until bombings returned to London in a big way. They moved out to Bristol, Somerset and Cambridge.
It wasn't long before the London metro bombings in 2005 sent more London residents on the move-out.
London needs De Bla:
Bill De Bla in London, eating "Blacksticks Blue" with no clue that it's made in Lancashire.
He would just say: "It's the most delicious, best cheese which is beloved in my great-uncle's cousin's region of England".
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Response by alanhart
about 12 years ago
Posts: 12397
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submoron
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Response by fieldschester
about 12 years ago
Posts: 3525
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An obsession with cheese today - inoitall, C0C0, Truth, aboutready
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Response by Truth
about 12 years ago
Posts: 5641
Member since: Dec 2009
fieldschester: It's Bill De Bla who is obsessed with cheese. He said buffalo milk mozzarella makes for the best pizza. Then he mentioned that it's "beloved in my grandfather's provence of Italy." Trying to get a few more votes from Italian Americans.
I don't see inoitall or COCO on this thread. I'm not familiar with ewasnick or the multi-number/letters poster.
The alkies were waiting for me the entire month I was away from se. They're obsessed and so excited that I'm back.
fieldchester: She's the se expert on all NYC government agencies.
"Bored, Frustrated Alkies For De Bla"
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Response by Truth
about 12 years ago
Posts: 5641
Member since: Dec 2009
^I left out the "s", in fieldschester. ^
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Response by fieldschester
about 12 years ago
Posts: 3525
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AR is not an expert in all NYC government agencies. She doesn't even like NYC, and spends conveniently enough vacation time outside of NYC.
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Response by aboutready
about 12 years ago
Posts: 16354
Member since: Oct 2007
Could you at least be clever or funny? Intelligent and analytical are definitely beyond your range. Never mind, so are clever and funny.
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Response by fieldschester
about 12 years ago
Posts: 3525
Member since: Jul 2013
Well, if I could stretch, which one would you suggest I be - clever, or funny?
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Response by Truth
about 12 years ago
Posts: 5641
Member since: Dec 2009
fieldschester:
She hates living in NYC, hates the weather, hates her apartment's washer/dryer, hates her deceased father, hates so many things.
She's here within a minute, after we posted comments. No need to read her: they are full of her usual anger, hatred and self-contempt. At 10:50pm on a Wed. night, she's home at her computer waiting, watching and hoping: looking for a fight, trolling for arguments.
She will be here all night ranting, raving and cursing.
I'm going out now.
She's all yours.
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Response by nycfund
about 12 years ago
Posts: 74
Member since: Nov 2008
Actually, the locals arguable suffer worse when a top tier city is run by a De Blasio.
"The re-emergence of buyers from the Middle East, the U.S. and Russia together with a more than 10 percent drop in prices in a year is rekindling sales of multi-million-euro properties in the French capital. The market faced a glut after wealthy French people, including actor Gerard Depardieu, sought to offload properties as they left the country, fleeing Socialist President Francois Hollande’s [read: De Blasio] efforts to add to already high taxes since his May 2012 election.
“We really had 12 dreadful months between April 2012 and April 2013,” Jottras said in an interview. “Then the market woke up nicely thanks to falling prices. Foreigners are looking at France anew because they’ve realized that, at the end of the day, the tax hell is for us, not for them.”
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Response by alanhart
about 12 years ago
Posts: 12397
Member since: Feb 2007
Right, and there can't possibly be any bias in a vanity media outlet owned outright by New York's wealthiest billionaire, and nearly the most sinister one we have. [The very most sinister billionaire or two sharing a name with Mr. How'm I Doing? himself.]
The given reason why the high-profile sellers are selling is wild speculation, without any voice from the sellers themselves. At least we're given “People are leaving for a number of reasons: taxes, the economy, family,” Saint Vincent said. And he was canonized.
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Response by nycfund
about 12 years ago
Posts: 74
Member since: Nov 2008
Yes alan, we can't trust big business but we can trust big government.
"Francois Hollande's approval ratings have slumped to a new low with fewer than one in four voters now backing the beleaguered French president.
Only 24 percent of those surveyed this month had a positive opinion of the Socialist leader, found a poll by the Ipsos agency for Le Point magazine - the lowest score recorded by a French president since Ipsos started its monthly survey in 1996."
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Response by alanhart
about 12 years ago
Posts: 12397
Member since: Feb 2007
So Hollande was voted in as a Socialist, and failed to deliver the high degree of socialism that the voters wanted. No wonder he has a low approval rating.
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Response by fieldschester
about 12 years ago
Posts: 3525
Member since: Jul 2013
France needs more socialism (also needs more rich people to pay for the socialism).
'/%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/svg%3e)
They did have one... Look up Red Ken.
"The kids in Bristol are hot as a pistol..."
imbecile
Knives are "sharp", pistols are hot.
Cambridge is a nice place to live and raise a family. Bristol has good weather(for England): sunny and warm.
In Summer gets hot and in spring and autumn there's rain. It's England.
It's a quick trip to Bath and Gloucestershire. Better than living with kids in London.
Gloucestershire sounds like a nice place.
> The gap between London prices and those of the rest of the country is now at a historic high, and there is only one way to explain it. London houses and apartments are a form of money.
I think that there is some concern that government might seize money from peoples' bank and retirement accounts, which happened in Poland a few weeks ago. There have been similar actions in Hungary and Cypress. Buyers might be trying to protect their wealth by parking it in a London apartment, even if they don't actually live there. This creates a bizarre situation where lavish apartments sit empty at the expense of people who live and work in London.
fieldschester: It's very nice. Homes with horse stables. Clean, quiet and safe.
The "trend" of people with children moving out of London actually started in 2004, right after the Madrid metro bombings. Many London residents remembered "The Troubles" and knew it was only a matter of time until bombings returned to London in a big way. They moved out to Bristol, Somerset and Cambridge.
It wasn't long before the London metro bombings in 2005 sent more London residents on the move-out.
London needs De Bla:
Bill De Bla in London, eating "Blacksticks Blue" with no clue that it's made in Lancashire.
He would just say: "It's the most delicious, best cheese which is beloved in my great-uncle's cousin's region of England".
submoron
An obsession with cheese today - inoitall, C0C0, Truth, aboutready
fieldschester: It's Bill De Bla who is obsessed with cheese. He said buffalo milk mozzarella makes for the best pizza. Then he mentioned that it's "beloved in my grandfather's provence of Italy." Trying to get a few more votes from Italian Americans.
I don't see inoitall or COCO on this thread. I'm not familiar with ewasnick or the multi-number/letters poster.
The alkies were waiting for me the entire month I was away from se. They're obsessed and so excited that I'm back.
npd
And hpd. Evil combination.
aboutready, are you still working with HPD?
http://youtu.be/HO6waZDHBqA
fieldchester: She's the se expert on all NYC government agencies.
"Bored, Frustrated Alkies For De Bla"
^I left out the "s", in fieldschester. ^
AR is not an expert in all NYC government agencies. She doesn't even like NYC, and spends conveniently enough vacation time outside of NYC.
Could you at least be clever or funny? Intelligent and analytical are definitely beyond your range. Never mind, so are clever and funny.
Well, if I could stretch, which one would you suggest I be - clever, or funny?
fieldschester:
She hates living in NYC, hates the weather, hates her apartment's washer/dryer, hates her deceased father, hates so many things.
She's here within a minute, after we posted comments. No need to read her: they are full of her usual anger, hatred and self-contempt. At 10:50pm on a Wed. night, she's home at her computer waiting, watching and hoping: looking for a fight, trolling for arguments.
She will be here all night ranting, raving and cursing.
I'm going out now.
She's all yours.
Actually, the locals arguable suffer worse when a top tier city is run by a De Blasio.
"The re-emergence of buyers from the Middle East, the U.S. and Russia together with a more than 10 percent drop in prices in a year is rekindling sales of multi-million-euro properties in the French capital. The market faced a glut after wealthy French people, including actor Gerard Depardieu, sought to offload properties as they left the country, fleeing Socialist President Francois Hollande’s [read: De Blasio] efforts to add to already high taxes since his May 2012 election.
“We really had 12 dreadful months between April 2012 and April 2013,” Jottras said in an interview. “Then the market woke up nicely thanks to falling prices. Foreigners are looking at France anew because they’ve realized that, at the end of the day, the tax hell is for us, not for them.”
Right, and there can't possibly be any bias in a vanity media outlet owned outright by New York's wealthiest billionaire, and nearly the most sinister one we have. [The very most sinister billionaire or two sharing a name with Mr. How'm I Doing? himself.]
The given reason why the high-profile sellers are selling is wild speculation, without any voice from the sellers themselves. At least we're given “People are leaving for a number of reasons: taxes, the economy, family,” Saint Vincent said. And he was canonized.
Yes alan, we can't trust big business but we can trust big government.
"Francois Hollande's approval ratings have slumped to a new low with fewer than one in four voters now backing the beleaguered French president.
Only 24 percent of those surveyed this month had a positive opinion of the Socialist leader, found a poll by the Ipsos agency for Le Point magazine - the lowest score recorded by a French president since Ipsos started its monthly survey in 1996."
So Hollande was voted in as a Socialist, and failed to deliver the high degree of socialism that the voters wanted. No wonder he has a low approval rating.
France needs more socialism (also needs more rich people to pay for the socialism).
http://streeteasy.com/nyc/talk/discussion/21700-obama
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/watch-u-s-student-beaten-bloodied-london-street-article-1.1493966
http://nypost.com/2013/10/23/nypd-shuts-down-banksy/
Bye-bye banksy. Maybe he will go to Ottawa next.
Riversider: trUth is "romancing" you now. Soon enough the histrionics will follow. That's the way that goes.
The alkie troll is trolling me on two different discussion threads. Another exciting night for him.
See what I mean?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/raymond-a-smith-phd/vice-president-bill-de-bl_b_4227402.html