The 2008 Financial Crash Continues

Abstract

The 2008 Crash and its continuing aftermath have had a lasting impact on the scale and persistence of the housing crisis. The chapter explains that the Crash was largely caused by over lending to residential property in the US but the contagion spread to the UK banking system. It argues that the fall out continues to affect the market in a number of ways notably credit policies housing investment and cut backs in public expenditure. The banking system and the property market were bailed out and the austerity decade has reduced the capacity and ability of local government to build social housing or compensate for the fall in private sector house building. It is argued that the UK housing market is particularly subject to boom and bust fuelled by speculation and overseas investment yet the planners were scapegoated by the Treasury for the collapse on house building after 2008.