| Topic: | Reply | |
| Posted by: | Gordon Southwell | |
| Date/Time: | 11/06/26 15:11:00 |
Negative equity is a loss — albeit an unrealised one. I presume it is based on the book value of the properties which may be well below the market value. In principle I agree with you that councils shouldn't be involving themselves in operations that are outside their normal competence and that they could never practically do better than private sector companies. I am pretty sure I said this at the time when Broadway Living was first proposed. However, it would be unfair not to look at this from the council's point of view. There is a massive shortage of housing, the market wasn't delivering what was needed, the council had unused land suitable for development and the opportunity to borrow at low interest rates. It was a tempting prospect that many councils fell for many, if not most of which were not 'Lefty Liberal Woke' authorities but Conservative ones too. They were not virtue signalling but trying to meet housing targets which would have been missed otherwise. That is the knitting of councils. If there hadn't been two major exogenous shocks since the founding of Broadway Living, the company would probably be sitting on significant gains in value for which the council would have deserved zero credit. |