How will property vote? EG readers fear Labour’s rent controls and its mansion tax, as well as the Tories’ Right to Buy. They want the Tories to win but have doubts about an EU referendum
This week Grosvenor’s Mark Preston added his voice to the chorus of property leaders speaking out about the general election. But where Berkeley’s Tony Pidgley, Prestbury’s Nick Leslau and Canary Wharf Group’s George Iacobescu signed an open letter to the Daily Telegraph endorsing the Tories, Preston was less partisan.
The group’s chief executive may have labelled Labour’s mansion tax proposal “unfortunate” and “arbitrary” while discussing Grosvenor’s results on the Today programme. But he dismissed both the Tories’ promise to extend right to buy to housing association tenants and Labour’s rent controls as “disappointing” and “short-term”.
All three policies were identified by Estates Gazette readers this week as concerns. But responding to the first of our new monthly polls, the REview, the EG community was clear which presented the biggest threat.
It is rent controls that are the headline fear factor. But mansion tax – alongside EU withdrawal – runs it close. And it is this mix of concerns that makes this election so intriguing. For all property’s desire to see a blue flag fly over Downing Street again, the Tories’ commitment to a referendum on Europe is a worry.
“EU withdrawal will create huge uncertainty for two years,” said Colliers International research director Walter Boettcher. “But rent controls would suggest that mid-20th century socialism was back in play.”
For Village Developments Construction managing director Nigel Greenhalgh and others, there is another Tory policy that is a worry. “Extending the right to buy is madness,” he said. “The cost is enormous and the affordable housing will not be replaced.”
Overall, however, the industry wants to see a Conservative-led government. More than 70% of respondents said the Conservatives offered the best policies for property and for the economy. “The Conservatives seem to support incentives rather than penalties,” said Donagh O’Sullivan, managing director of Galliard Homes. “Labour is pushing taxation too much.”
But David Cameron is less popular than his party. The current PM is supported by 58% of you. With London mayor Boris Johnson seen as doing a good job for development in the capital, it is no surprise that 14% of you back him for PM – more than Ed Miliband.
And for all the noise around devolution, core concerns around government debt dominate the priorities respondents want the next government to address. “The industry seems to view the next government’s number-one priority to be balancing the budget over and above a direct housing stimulus or infrastructure investment,” said Adrian Leavey, real estate partner at Trowers & Hamlins, sponsor of the REview. “Top of the ‘don’t-do-it!’ list appears to be the imposition of rent controls.”
• The REview returns next month.
• Introducing the REview – EG’s new monthly reader poll
damian.wild@estatesgazette.com
