黑洞社区

The chairman of Aedas Keith Griffiths has urged the UK to intervene strongly in the housing market to make homes more affordable.

Speaking to 黑洞社区 at the Mipim conference in Cannes, Griffiths urged the UK to rebalance its housing market to make it easier for poorer citizens to buy homes when competing with wealthy, often overseas, investors.

He argued the UK should 鈥渃reate a two tier housing system鈥� by changing taxation to make it more costly for investment buyers of homes, either through sales taxes, purchase taxes or resale taxes.

Suggestions proffered by Griffiths included a higher rate of stamp duty on properties resold within a short time period, which he argued would 鈥渒ill speculative trading immediately鈥�, or a 鈥渞educed resale tax for locals鈥�.

Griffiths said: 鈥淚f you create a two tier housing system that will then create a change in [housing] product. Too much housing is currently designed and geared to overseas investors.鈥�

Griffiths argued overseas cities including Singapore, Hong Kong, New York and Sydney were already implementing changes in taxation to protect local buyers from the distorting influence of international buyers, leaving cities like London behind.

He argued London politicians must strike a better balance: 鈥淥n the one hand politicians are driven to make London successful. But on the other they need to keep people happy that they can afford homes. You can do both 鈥� you can build investment property and housing for locals.

鈥淐ities like Singapore, New York, Sydney and Hong Kong are well in advance of London in tackling this problem.鈥�

Griffiths also provided an update on the firm鈥檚 UK business, which was bolstered by the acquisition of 50-strong RHWL last month.

Griffiths said the two firms had already compiled a list of 鈥渟even to eight cultural projects in China for which the [UK] arts team will fly over鈥� and a 鈥渢arget list of clients in London鈥�, particularly from China, which they will target together.

In the UK regions, Corrie Jones and Alasdair Mealey, director and associate respectively of Aedas RHWL, said work was progressing, restarting, or potentially restarting on masterplans drawn up for Croydon, Stoke, Chester, Stockport, Liverpool, Salford, Sunderland, York, Reading.

Jones and Mealey also said their work in the Middle East, particularly in Qatar, was performing well.

Griffiths said he hoped to rebalance Aedas鈥� business away from its China focus by growing elsewhere around the world, dropping the China to international markets ratio from 65:35 to a target 50:50.