A major factor in the rise of property prices in the UK is the enormous growth of the buy-to-let market. It's not the sole factor affecting property prices, but a substantial one, particularly in London.

Incredibly, buy-to-let landlords have enjoyed better tax advantages than first-time buyers. Some of those tax advantages have only recently been curtailed by the current government, but it's too little, too late.

I wrote a blog post about the damaging effects of buy-to-let in 2009. That's six years ago, and hardly anything has changed. It's immensely depressing:

http://designofhomes.co.uk/016-damaging-effects-of-buy-to-le...