A dystopian property world

I have woken up today and, again, it appears this is all still real. The headline COVID restrictions to last six months washes away the sense of contentment from a gorgeous warm and hazy September weekend. This article about spontaneity being dead also resonates. How many of us leave the house only to double back for a mask?

My son had some homework last week and needed a bit of help: "Mummy, tell me some things that happen in a dystopian world?" "We all wear masks." "We have to give our name and address wherever we go."

One for the girls and Margaret Atwood, "Women are in charge." He even laughed at that one (age 11). He knows the patriarchy is alive and well.

But the examples of dystopian Britain are best demonstrated in the property market, both residential and commercial. Not one for Fred’s homework but it gets you thinking.

We are in a mini housing boom (I say mini because it is only one month's stats that we can see). Yet our economy is on its knees and thousands of people are being made redundant daily. The promise of up to £15k SDLT savings is encouraging people to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds. 

Tenants are protected from the ramifications of not paying their rent to their landlords (understandably if they cannot beneficially use and enjoy) but a whole other sector, investment landlords, (and in the main the ordinary folk's pension funds) are unprotected and left to fend for themselves.

Welcome to another bonkers week in 2020.