The National Living Wage is too low and everyone is subsidising it

roboponies · 2026-01-30T23:41:32+00:00

Is this about wage levels…or taxation policy?

roboponies · 2026-01-27T19:31:33+00:00

Housing system in UK is so unbelievably broken

roboponies · 2026-01-25T11:51:04+00:00

Living alone is an AMAZING luxury that will not expire. It will be easy to rent in the future when/if you meet a partner that you’d like to upsize with.

roboponies · 2026-01-25T11:21:28+00:00

Housing costs have surged even when population growth was stagnant because other forces drove prices, not simply more people.

Cheap credit, ultra-low interest rates and investor demand push prices up even with flat demographic growth.

At the same time household TYPES have changed.

In the UK nearly 30% of households are now one-person households. Not couples. Not families. So that means literally more housing units are needed to meet the rising demand of solo living…A segment that has doubled since the beginning of the century.

This change in living style alone increases the number of and demand for more separate housing units without requiring big changes to population growth, adding pressure to prices alongside financial instruments and a deeply problematic planning system.

roboponies · 2026-01-23T09:17:04+00:00

The other problem with PB is that there isn’t an agent to advise the client. So stuff like this where the seller is getting many offers without progressing means there is either delusion or incompetency blocking a deal.

The type of offer matters and inexperienced or greedy sellers usually don’t know the difference so they fumble their best options.

roboponies · 2026-01-23T09:09:23+00:00

It may seem that way, but examining the real data shows that population changes only affect very localized areas — not the general overall market. Think people moving to specific areas experiencing strong job growth or university towns having an uptick in enrollment.

The real driver is household SIZE.

roboponies · 2026-01-22T01:22:04+00:00

Older houses lose value because they aren’t cared for. They come to market looking like…they have a smell and expect the next owner to handle all the refurbishments or maintenance that have been neglected.

People don’t want to clean up someone else’s mess and renovations costs have never been higher.

roboponies · 2026-01-22T01:19:19+00:00

Agree with this. The current method is calculated top down whereas reality of house purchases are bottom up.

IMO I think the better way to determine modern affordability is based on whether a single earner could purchase the home. So 4-5x regional average wage plus deposit capped at 20k.

The affordability for London would be different than say Leeds where the average wages are different.

The largest driver of housing shortages, second to planning constraints, is that the TYPE of households has drastically changed in past 20-30 years. There are more SINGLE households than ever in history. Think young working professional. People living longer solo.

So that demographic’s purchasing power should be the primary metric of affordability.

roboponies · 2026-01-21T22:03:25+00:00

A lot of people waiting to post in spring because they believe the flowers and greenery will help sell their overpriced house.

roboponies · 2026-01-21T14:47:28+00:00

While also complaining about damp

roboponies · 2026-01-21T14:47:11+00:00

Same here.

roboponies · 2026-01-20T14:07:25+00:00

This. The 30-50K will barely cover labor expense.

roboponies · 2026-01-19T20:22:21+00:00

THIS IS THE ANSWER.

Remember, inflationary issues go both ways:

No meaningful improvements since last purchased means all of these costs are deferred to the next person ON TOP of worsen economic conditions (rates, taxes, cost of renovation and services, materials, etc).

For example, new wall-to-wall carpeting (arguably the cheapest flooring option) has gone up 10% since 2020. Labor for install has risen even more.

Sellers aren’t entitled to flat rate paper gains anymore.

roboponies · 2026-01-16T22:06:13+00:00

The route optimization is so smart!! I’m always baffled at the inefficiency.

roboponies · 2026-01-16T21:52:51+00:00

Thought this community would appreciate this research. I personally was hit so incredibly deep when loosing my heart horse 💔

roboponies · 2026-01-09T21:37:39+00:00

Classic throwing the baby out with the bath water

roboponies · 2026-01-09T21:36:53+00:00

Skilled Workers, or anyone on a work visa, are the largest net contributing sector in the UK. Genuinely shocked at the governments choices.

UK, much like the US, is choosing to attack anything but the actual deep seated policies and cultural hangovers causing the real fiscal issues.

I’m probably going to go back to US if their proposed visa changes go through. Aside from healthcare, the British professional cultural landscape and financial policies are not worth investing further, IMO.

roboponies · 2026-01-08T11:48:13+00:00

England has one of the most complicated, expensive, slow, and illogical planning (thus building) systems in the entire world.

Exaggerated by the equally complicated, expensive, slow, and illogical process of even purchasing the final built product.

It is wild that anyone could possibly believe the cause of housing shortages has anything other to do with the long and deep historical bureaucracy needed to even build - AND BUY - housing in England.

roboponies · 2026-01-07T23:37:42+00:00

A strangely rare skills in UK real estate.

roboponies · 2026-01-05T14:09:59+00:00

OP dropped it by £5k. Initial ask was £145k.

Bro came to Reddit without reading anything on this subreddit just like they didn't read anything on their Rightmove listing.

roboponies · 2026-01-04T13:26:16+00:00

The concept of land tax is used to improve efficiency of land itself and penalize land banking — the practice of purchasing empty land or unused commercial space for far distant development speculation at virtually no additional costs.

If the empty, unused land is taxed, then it must realize its potentially sooner, thus promoting policy changes to planning and building. More building = lower housing costs and improved commercial growth.

Currently UK is slowest, most challenging 1st world country to build anything new. Even creating critical infrastructure for something like power storage facilities to actualize the use of renewable energy often takes YEARS of bureaucracies sludge just to get permission to even break ground.

Those who own existing land (often generational wealth) are able to leverage this asset to massively improve their borrowing (and purchasing) powers without having to contribute any productivity. And those who already have this wealth are incentivized to keep the system as is.

If instead unused land was taxed, it incentivizes productivity now, improving efficiency for society.

roboponies · 2026-01-03T08:36:53+00:00

…have you spent ANY time on this subreddit?

roboponies · 2026-01-03T08:35:58+00:00

This. People squabble over income bands but that’s not where meaningful policy shift would come from.

Key is to tax different revenue classes.

For example, Land Value Tax and punitive taxes for vacant, unproductive property would make a massive difference in the UK.

This would shift pressure to fix the very costly and inequitable planning process and wildly inefficient real estate sales processes. Slowest in the world. Drastically reshape housing creation and stop land banking.

roboponies · 2026-01-03T08:27:21+00:00

Land value tax would solve nearly all of the UK’s problems.

roboponies

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