Housing
Regulations need to be about the right things
Houses are too expensive in South East England, and particularly in London. We should be encouraging supply - I will return to that issue in other substacks.
No matter what we do, a successful London will always be more expensive to live in than other places. It is more expensive to build flats than houses - they need deeper foundations, stronger walls, better fire safety standards, lifts, and so on. The taller they are, the higher the construction costs per square metre. Even if land were to cost the same everywhere, house prices in London will be more expensive.
Higher prices mean that Londoners typically have smaller houses than other people. Prices of housing are higher, and so they choose to buy less housing. That makes sense.
But not to the Mayor, Sadiq Khan, or to his predecessor, Boris Johnson.