IEA Featured Media Posts

Director General Mark Littlewood penned an article for the Daily Telegraph on Labour’s £75bn social housing plan. Mark argued the only way the UK can deliver the number of homes demanded at an affordable price is to overhaul of our planning system and reduce (or fully eliminate) perverse property taxes such as stamp duty. Read ... Continue reading

Quoted in the Daily Mail, Head of Political Economy Dr Kristian Niemietz responded to the Labour Party's housing policy announcements, specifically plans to cap rent rises. Kristian said: "Capping rent would not add a single flat to the country’s housing stock. "On the contrary: this would entice the “marginal landlord” – the person for whom ... Continue reading

Quoted in the Daily Mail, Dr Kristian Niemietz responded to Labour's manifesto pledge announcement to invest in the biggest council and social house building programme for decades. 'While Labour is right to highlight the severity of the UK's housing crisis...There is no specific shortage of social housing in the UK, rather a shortage of inexpensive ... Continue reading

Quoted in The Sun, IEA Head of Political Economy Dr Kristian Niemietz responded to Labour's manifesto plans to create a state-run English Sovereign Land Trust that would acquire land at knock-down rates. "The Labour Party's plan to introduce a state-run land trust undermines property rights and would do nothing to solve the housing crisis", Kristian ... Continue reading

Responding to Labour proposals to make all new homes zero-carbon within three years, IEA's Head of political economy Dr Kristian Niemietz warned that "creating new rules that would push up the price of homes, without doing anything simultaneously to tackle sky-high house prices, will result in making it even harder for people to get onto ... Continue reading

Britain's housing crisis is rooted in its centralised government, says Dr Radomir Tylecote, co-author of recent IEA report 'Raising the Roof'. Writing for CapX, Radomir points out that 95% of UK tax goes direct to Whitehall, so local governments get little benefit from housebuilding but plenty of burden. He goes on to say this creates ... Continue reading

Rent controls would "reduce the supply of accommodation offered by the private sector, and reduce the incentive - and the ability - to maintain the quality of the rented housing stock" says Professor Len Shackleton, Editorial and Research Fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs. Len was quoted in the Daily Express, responding to policy ... Continue reading

Plans for the next Labour government to build one million new "genuinely affordable" homes could double house prices, says Professor Len Shackleton, Editorial and Research Fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs. Len notes that the plans would require "at least double the output of the building industry" which he believes is unachievable and a ... Continue reading