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Billions in profit, millions in need
GLYN ROBBINS recommends an exposé of how speculative property investment is destroying access to public-sector housing
BUILDING INEQUALITY: The big 10 housebuilders generated 30 per cent of new homes in Britain in 2018

The Property Lobby: The Hidden Reality Behind the Housing Crisis
by Bob Colenutt
Policy Press, £13.59

IN 1975, Bob Colenutt and the late Peter Ambrose — a staunch ally of the Defend Council Housing campaign — wrote a brilliant little book, The Property Machine. It was one of the first attempts to describe the dynamics of the corporate development industry, a subject that remains shrouded in commercial confidentiality and PR spin. 

In the 45 years since, that machine has become a monster, dominating the economies and urban landscapes of global capitalism. But the forces that have allowed speculative property investment to steam-roller working-class communities around the world are still not widely understood.

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