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John Lewis defends plans to build 10,000 rental homes on its land
(www.theguardian.com)
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this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2023
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UK Politics
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It's not the silliest idea ever, though I'm not very fond of the "build houses just to rent" business model.
The site they mention in Reading is very close to the centre of town (minus 4 lanes of dual carriageway). It'll be interesting to see what they put up (and how many cars they expect residents to own)
More homes being built should be celebrated, regardless of whether they're intended for the rental market or not.
More rental homes means cheaper rent, means less profitable buy-to-let, means cheaper homes.
Have you met big corporations? Just because that aught to be e how it works, doesn't mean it will
It's simple supply and demand. Even if John Lewis decides to charge high rent on these specific homes, the additional supply will reduce demand across the market, which means landlords will have to ask for less rent if they want to be able to fill their properties.
The more homes there are on the market, the lower rent/home prices will be.
Free markets aren't the answer to all the world's problems, but they can be part of the solution - as long as they're properly regulated.
Fun fact: John Lewis isn't a typical corporation, it's a partnership, and its employees are the partners. When they do well, they don't pay dividends, they pay percentage bonuses across the entire workforce.
Gives me hope that they might be trying to do the right thing. Obviously they might just be attempting to make more profit, but John Lewis has very good customer service indeed in my admittedly very limited experience.