This is an opportunity to take some of the heat out of the housing market, and to help small investors. For those who would like a secure return on their capital, be they pension funds or someone with a small amount to invest, the government, either national or local, could provide a ‘housing bond’. This would create an investment vehicle that would provide a guaranteed, albeit fairly modest, rate of return with the opportunity to redeem the loan plus interest at some point in the future. The money invested would then be used to construct council houses or genuinely affordable housing. The rent from these properties would provide the return for the investors. It would also be an opportunity to make use of publicly owned land – MOD land, old airfields, railway land, etc. This has been talked about for years, but nothing much done about it. The benefit for those on low incomes is obvious. The benefit for the small investor is having a secure return without the hassle of finding and managing tenants or paying estate agent fees. Also, they would be spared the drop in income resulting from empty properties or non-paying tenants who take too long to evict and may damage the property.
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