{"id":7546,"date":"2017-11-30T12:07:27","date_gmt":"2017-11-30T12:07:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.buyassociation.co.uk\/?p=7546"},"modified":"2017-11-30T12:07:27","modified_gmt":"2017-11-30T12:07:27","slug":"money-for-nothing-landowners-making-millions-in-housing-shortage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/2017\/11\/30\/money-for-nothing-landowners-making-millions-in-housing-shortage\/","title":{"rendered":"Money for nothing – Landowners are the real winners in housing shortage"},"content":{"rendered":"
It is the cost of land, rather than houses, that is creating the biggest challenge in the UK housing market, according to a report from think tank Civitas.<\/strong><\/p>\n Landowners have been making extraordinary profits for many years due to the rising value of land, and Daniel Bentley, who wrote Civitas report The Land Question<\/em>, believes solving this issue could go some way towards alleviating the housing crisis<\/a>.<\/p>\n The problem, says the report, partly stems from the introduction of the Land Compensation Act of 1961, which gave landowners the right to be reimbursed for any prospective use of the land, in the case of compulsory purchase by the state.<\/p>\n This means that rather than local authorities or public corporations acquiring development sites at prices closer to their “current-use value” –\u00a0 the value of the land based on its current status – the price paid for land is based on a speculative value and therefore significantly higher.<\/p>\n