Kirstie Allsopp calls for ban on new build detached houses in fiery rant
Kirstie Allsopp has aired her gripe with the new build housing market.
The Location, Location, Location presenter says detached houses should no longer be constructed in Britain as they are not “environmentally practical”. She also argued there is less sense of community between detached homeowners and branded the gap between houses a total “waste of space”.
Married mum-of-two Kirstie, 52, lives in a 1950s building that was originally two separate flats in London’s upmarket Notting Hill, where the average house price is upwards of £2 million.
In contrast, Kirstie’s TV co-host Phil Spencer, 54, now lives in a detached £3.3 countryside mansion in Hampshire with 10 acres of land and a tennis court after reportedly selling his six-bedroom family home in London for a profit of £2.4million back in 2015.
Kirstie Allsopp and Phil Spencer are back on TV with the latest series of Love It or List It (Channel 4)Fuming that Britain’s housing system is “not fit for purpose” and is in urgent need of review, Kirstie shared her views on what she would do if she was in charge. Speaking to the Daily Mail Weekend Magazine, she said: “I would stop the building of detached houses.”
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Explaining why, she continued: “They’re not environmentally practical. They don’t make best use of the sites. They have smaller gardens, there’s less community. That gap between the houses is a waste of space. You have to be brave, you have to tell the truth.”
Kirstie and Phil have been speaking out on the UK’s housing crisis as a new series of Kirstie and Phil’s Love It Or List It kicked off on Channel 4. The show helps people decide whether to spend money on their home or sell up to create more space and add value.
But Kirstie revealed this is the first series they have ever done where having work carried out to stay in a house “hasn’t necessarily been covered by a rise in value over time”. This is down to the price of labour and materials soaring in recent years and the market not yet lifting. She said: “People have been spending double what they expected and not getting that back in terms of value added.”
Mortgage rates are also a worry for many homeowners, especially those whose low fixed interest rates are ending soon. Sharing she had family members who were feeling the pinch, Kirstie said a lot of people would see their mortgage payments “go through the roof” and warned “the crunch is happening”.
But she warned homeowners to avoid “sticking your head in the sand” if their mortgage payments do become unmanageable as “it’s not your fault”. She urged them to sort out their finances as much as they can and talk to their families, employers and mortgage lenders.
While Phil had some ideas of his own on how to address the housing crisis and said he would prefer to welcome an independent regulator. He suggested giving control to an independent body, like the Bank of England and introduce a 25-year housing policy to “sort out the troubles we have”.
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