RE: Ultra low interest???14 Jan 2021 20:16
Hi Daniel. I think you are deliberately missing the point. The highest years of inflation were 1974 to 1981, as I referred to in my post yesterday. After all, these are the crucial years to use as an example if we are discussing inflation, no? (hyper or not). It appears to me that you are discussing the topic of inflation for a period when inflation was not particularly rapid compared to the mid to late 1970s.
House price increases (other than the 1980's boom and early 1990's bust) only kicked in in earnest in late 1990's, initially due to increased foreign demand for safe UK assets, as the UK was seen as a safe haven for foreign cash. This massive flood of foreign currency underpinned the central London boom, the owners who were not necessarily resident, and later, funding all the dreadful new flats around Battersea. Thereafter the increase in immigration after the relaxations under Blair, Brown and Cameron, still continuing to this date, has caused an inexorable demand for basic housing, which pretty much makes the current housing market bust-proof. If you have any doubts about this, I can say that Bulgaria has lost around 2m population (out of 9m) since 1985. Such that one of my tenants has just bought two detached houses on generous plots in a town on the Danube, for less than £10,000 for the two. Anyone who has a job in this country can afford a home, but not necessarily in this country.
Clearly these factors are much more significant in affecting the housing market than the simple rate of inflation and monetary policy.