Pre Budget Report - A lost Opportunity

As a consumer and a concerned environmentalist I was amazed by how little was in the budget for green measures.
OK, so he upped the tax on flying, but surely with the public seemingly behind him he could have done a lot more here.
The fact that he did very little on taxes on air travel will be good news for "jet to letters" and anyone with property abroad, especially those with overseas holiday lets, which were at risk if he had come in with some big hikes.
There was an announcement of nil stamp duty for new carbon friendly homes. Big Deal!
And some small extension to the Landlords Energy Savings Allowance - applying to flats, not just buildings. But that was about it.
As a landlord and as a consumer it was all a bit dull really.
The excitement of May 1997 seems like a world away but I guess its a reality that all governments become safe and boring after time - tinkering at the edges rather than being brave.

Net Yield On Residential Property Still Beating Equities

Rightly or wrongly, more and more people are looking to property as a secure investment because they see the stock market as too volatile, they’ve been stung by the endowment scandal, the split cap scandal, the collapse of Equitable Life etc, but most of all, they don’t trust the government on pensions.
And the closing of many final salary schemes is just one more reason why people look to property to provide a safe home for their money. (Memories of the property crash of 1989-1995 when London prices fell over 30% are clearly fading)
And although property looks highly valued now on some measures, it doesn’t on others.
Take a look at property yields for example.
The current net yield on private residential sector is about 3.5% now - which is still slightly above the yield on UK equities - which according to the Council of Mortgage Lender’s Housing Finance journal “does not suggest the UK property market is seriously overvalued.”
At least not on that measure!
But of course you can prove black is white with statistics.
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