Edinburgh housing crisis: Rent control is not the answer, we need more homes to meet demand – John McLellan

Yet again there are demands for rent controls to “solve” Edinburgh’s housing problems, this time sparked by the Bank of Scotland’s annual survey of Scotland’s most expensive streets.
Edinburgh's Ann Street is one of the city’s most desirable addresses (Picture: Lisa Ferguson)Edinburgh's Ann Street is one of the city’s most desirable addresses (Picture: Lisa Ferguson)
Edinburgh's Ann Street is one of the city’s most desirable addresses (Picture: Lisa Ferguson)

Ann Street has long been one of the city’s most desirable addresses, but the direct correlation between prices on the picturesque Georgian Stockbridge terrace and the affordability of mass housing is not immediately apparent, apart from the impact of demand.

Houses in the survey’s exclusive streets come up so rarely that it only takes one or two sales to alter the statistics; the prices reflect the rarity because in a capital city there will always be people willing to pay over the odds for the best addresses.

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In Dublin, houses in the plush Pembroke area go for double the average city price of €509,575, about £450,000, and in a city with rent controls the average monthly charge for a new tenancy in a two-bed flat is €1325, approximately £1170, compared to Edinburgh’s £1200.

Market intervention, especially in an era of high inflation, only delays problems when the issue is too many people chasing too few homes. Artificially depressing prices while costs are rising only pushes properties out the market and in the end makes matters worse.

Campaigners like Living Rent are right to raise the issue of unaffordability, but with the city council in denial about supply, they should be putting it under pressure to deliver a realistic plan to meet demand and which is honest about any failure to do so.

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