London's new high-rises: speculators' luxury flats designed never to be occupied

[anothernewbbaccount]

@L0ki

He means the market is detached from reality because buyers are currently not prepared to pay such ludicrously high prices making very silly offers.

I sense there is a difference between “not selling/attracting much interest” and “potential/interested buyers making silly/reasonable offers”
One wonders if those offers would still be profitable. Would the seller lose money at that offer level or are they just (as it sounds) holding out for rapacious profits when ‘sense’ prevails?

[anon78706664]

That’s where I was going.

(Tangentially: China has a national debt of $4.3 trillion, they’re building new cities from scratch, high speed rail lines, the world’s largest radio telescope, tunnels, power grids, bridges, airports, and, um, they’re also kind of recolonizing Africa.

America has a national debt of $21 trillion, our bridges are falling down, we lose 6 billion gallons of drinking water a day because of leaky pipes, and our most “progressive” city can’t figure out how to deal with 8,000 homeless people.

So…yeah. Ain’t that something.)

[elliotk]

It would probably be easier just to use large carved stones on the bottom of the ocean.

[Kilkrazy]

I’m not going to say Russian Oligarchs are corrupt, but it’s obvious that Putin cannot seize or appropriate private land property in the UK. The large amount of land bought by rich Russians in London and the south-east is clearly a potential bolt-hole for them and a store of value.

[Urbanacus]

@Kilkrazy

I’m not going to say Russian Oligarchs are corrupt, but it’s obvious that Putin cannot seize or appropriate private land property in the UK. The large amount of land bought by rich Russians in London and the south-east is clearly a potential bolt-hole for them and a store of value.

Them and every other kleptocrat and oligarch around the world. The drain of capital is probably the single biggest challenge to the developing world, after the brain drain of the young elites who go to Europe or the US for education and never go back.

[the_borderer]

@Urbanacus

The drain of capital is probably the single biggest challenge to the developing world, after the brain drain of the young elites who go to Europe or the US for education and never go back.

Hey! The UK isn’t part of the developing world until next April.

[cb78]

Very similar situation here in Miami, 80% of luxury condos and over half of all real estate is foreign buyers. Many of them sit empty while local workers can’t afford to buy a place and rents skyrocket.

And of course much of this is parking illicit money for when they need to bug out of their home country…

[Avyctes]

This is one of the reasons why I secretly and kind of shamefully look forward to brexit. The sound of the imploding financial market and associated business in London should carry across the North Sea.

The EU might also be better off without the eternal exceptionalism of the British.

[Keith_McClary]

@Urbanacus

Them and every other kleptocrat and oligarch around the world. The drain of capital is probably the single biggest challenge to the developing world

There is never a serious crackdown on this because it is advantageous to the 1% of the developed world.

[Urbanacus]

@Keith_McClary

There is never a serious crackdown on this because it is advantageous to the 1% of the developed world.

I’m not certain it’s the developed world’s place to “crack down”. Developing countries need the kind of government and leadership that encourages people to invest there, not offshore their gains. We’ve certainly historically played our part in shoring up “our SOB’s”, but the cold war is nearly 30 years gone, and we’re not propping them up quite like we used to.

[L0ki]

@anothernewbbaccount

Would the seller lose money at that offer level or are they just (as it sounds) holding out for rapacious profits when ‘sense’ prevails?

Oh, they’d make money. They justify stopping marketing the (remaining) apartments on the basis that they’ve already recouped the development costs and rented out the retail areas, so they’ve already broken even and have an income from the building.

Any money they get from further sales is gravy at this point.

So yes, flat out greed.

@anothernewbbaccount

I sense there is a difference between “not selling/attracting much interest” and “potential/interested buyers making silly/reasonable offers”

I’m not sure what you’re trying to say here. There are apparently people making offers and those offers are less than the developer thinks is reasonable.

Obviously the prospective buyers disagree with his view of the value.

[L0ki]

@Kilkrazy

I’m not going to say Russian Oligarchs are corrupt, but it’s obvious that Putin cannot seize or appropriate private land property in the UK.

But he can arrange for some tourists to pop round and polish your door handle for you.

Hmm, that sounds a bit too Carry On doesn’t it.