Now the headline of this article could have been “Speculators blamed for Home Rise”, because that’s what the result of the survey showed. They decided to take a different tack though…
news.sky.com/skynews/article/0, … html?f=rss
Would-be home buyers are blaming immigrants for driving up house prices, according to a poll.
More than one in five said controlling the numbers of foreigners coming to live in the UK was the best way to reduce demand and halt escalating valuations, propertyfinder.com found.
And new arrivals from abroad came second only to property investors as being seen as responsible for fuelling the market, its survey found.
The research showed a serious public ignorance about the true causes - with low interest rates and planning laws bottom of the poll, said propertyfinder chief executive Warren Bright.
Immigrants simply made convenient “high-profile scapegoats” despite having little or no influence on the housing market, he said, adding that the true causes were “poorly understood”.
The Tories say the poll is an endorsement of the party’s immigration proposals and is evidence of the need for annual limits.
“This finding about public attitudes shows the need for an explicit annual limit on immigrants from outside the EU, as proposed by the Conservatives,” shadow immigration minister Damian Green said.
“Not only will it mean we can control immigration for the benefit of the economy and so that the public service infrastructure can cope - it will avoid increasing tensions between communities.”
“10 years of low interest rates have brought about Britain’s high house prices, but this is poorly understood by most people,” he said.
“Restrictive planning policy enthusiastically enforced by local councils has severely constrained the ability of developers to provide the number of homes needed by Britain’s rising number of households.”
That has exacerbated the rise in property values, he said.
“Immigrants and property investors make high-profile scapegoats but are simply too small in number to be responsible.”
I wonder will they blame the immigrants who go home for the falling house prices? ;0