Yes, it's already turning into a ghost town. It's not just the housing rules, though - there's more: - the Green Belt which prevents any outward expansion - shadow taxes of up to 800% of construction price - awful road system so you can't commute to the city by car, unlike most American cities - mediocre intercity train system so you can't commute to the city by train easily, unlike most European cities They do have the Eurostar high-speed train to France. Lille, through which all trains to Brussels and Paris go through, now also has a surge of gentrification because it's only 80 minutes with a high-speed train. Never mind the fact that it's in another country on the other side of the Canal.
I'd forgotten about the Green Belt. And I know that British Rail has really been sucking hard; as I recall, the rates have gone up like tenfold over the past 20 years. The last time I was in London - which was in the early '90s - our hosts basically figured they could accomplish exactly one task in London on any given day. Which, fuck - beats Los Angeles. And i realized from all my maps yesterday that it is legitimately as far from Seattle to Vancouver as it is from Ventura to Riverside.
British rail is no more. They decided to privatize it and cut it up in pieces, giving every piece to other operators. It didn't go down well. Just look this (cartographic) mess: