This item is short but the link is large and the subject
represents a big question.
It is an article by Nicholas Shaxson in “Vanity Fair” on the
subject of One Hyde Park, London ,
referred to before in this blog. The
interesting matters are who owns the apartments, how, that is financed and why,
given the huge costs of purchase.
The article does not limit itself to the immediate situation
but outlines the longer story behind it.
This is the kind of money coming into London that has driven the property bubble
and the associated impact in the South East.
There has been a lot of fuss about the capping of housing
benefits in London
largely centered on the families being installed in expensive properties. There has been much less interest or comment
on who might own them and are raking in the profits.
What is more worrying is that the money and use of it are
not secure. It would not take too much
for those who have it to suddenly change their minds and to try to cash
in. This could have the makings of a nasty
financial crash.
For quite a while now our governments have been betting the
economic house on keeping the London
bubble going and continuing to attract a lot of the funny and criminal money
sloshing around the world.
We could all finish up the losers.
Consider, are these the people you really want to trust with
your life savings and perhaps your future pensions?
It isn't what we planned, an offshore haven for dodgy money.
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