The Guilty Secret Behind Britain's House Price Crash — Fred Harrison

Fred Harrison has spent decades warning that the property market hides something most people never question. In this conversation, recorded as Andy Burnham prepares to challenge for the Labour leadership, Fred explains what that secret is and why the crash now unfolding was not only predictable but inevitable. When you buy a house, you think you are buying land. You are not. You are paying for access to public services: schools, hospitals, roads, transit. The seller had no hand in creating them and has no right to charge you for them. That value belongs to the public. Instead, it flows into private pockets. And to make up the shortfall, the government taxes your wages. That is the con. And it has been running for centuries. Fred also argues that Andy Burnham's proposed land value tax, applied only at the local level, will not fix this. History shows it. Australia has had local land taxes for decades. The boom and bust never stopped. Real change requires replacing taxes on labour and enterprise with a charge on location rents collected at the national level. Nothing less will shift the dial. The house price crash Fred predicted is now rolling out in Britain, New Zealand, Australia and across the board. The question is whether any politician has the nerve to do what is actually required. Fred Harrison is the author of Boom Bust and The Traumatised Society. He has been tracking the 18-year property cycle for over forty years. There is a solution. It has existed for 250 years. The reason you have not heard it is the subject of Fred's latest book, Cheating, linked below. Fred Harrison's book Cheating is available now: https://shepheardwalwyn.com/product/c... Follow Peter Smith on Substack for weekly analysis on land, rent and the political economy of the digital age: https://peeta462032.substack.com/