Government Launches £624m Housebuilding Loan Fund

Housebuilders can now bid for loan funding from a £624 million fund to deliver infrastructure and assemble land, the government has said. The funding is part of £2.2bn announced in the spending review last year to support infrastructure. The funding, to be committed from 2021/22 to 2024/25 with terms of up to 20 years, is part of the £7.1bn National Home Building fund and is also available to small builders. The government says funding will help deliver 116,000 new homes. Read more on the Housing Today website.

https://www.housingtoday.co.uk/news/government-opens-624m-loan-fund-to-house-builders/5114568.article

£8.6 Billion For Affordable Homes

 Thousands of people will be helped onto the housing ladder as funding worth £8.6 billion is allocated across the country. Part of the largest single investment in affordable housing in a decade, the Affordable Homes Programme funding will deliver around 119,000 homes, including 57,000 for ownership, 29,600 for social rent and 6,250 affordable rural homes. The cash injection could support up to 370,000 jobs across the country for homebuilders, SME developers, and wider businesses supporting the house building industry such as electricians and plumbers. This is expected to generate up to £26 billion of other private and public investment. Read more on the GovUK website.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/86-billion-for-affordable-homes-to-give-boost-onto-housing-ladder

First-Time Buyers Scheme Now Open For Bids

 Home builders across England can now bid for their share of a £150 million package by offering plots for sale as First Homes, the flagship government scheme aimed at first-time buyers and key workers. House builders are being invited to work with the government to deliver First Homes across the country in the coming months, with the aim of delivering 1,500 homes by March 2023. First Homes helps local first-time buyers and key workers onto the property ladder by offering homes at a discount of at least 30% compared to the market price. The same percentage will then be passed on with the sale of the property to future first-time buyers. Read more on the GovUK website.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/flagship-first-time-buyers-scheme-now-open-for-bids-from-house-builders

Hoarding Housebuilders Increase Land Banking During the Pandemic

Research reveals which of the UK’s biggest developers currently own the highest number of land bank plots, land which can, but isn’t being built on. StripeHomes analysed data on the volume of land banking plots and found that they totalled 441,702 plots in 2020, a 4% increase on the previous year. The current level of land bank plots by these housebuilders alone far exceeds the government’s target to build 300,000 new homes a year, a target they consistently fail to reach. Barratt, one of the nation’s biggest housebuilders, also claims the title of Britain’s biggest land banker. As of 2020, Barratt owned 80,324 land bank plots. Second on the list is Taylor Wimpey, owner of 77,000 land bank plots, and third is Persimmon with 67,205 plots. Read more on the Property Notify website.

https://www.propertynotify.co.uk/news/press-releases/britains-hoarding-housebuilders-increase-land-banking-plots-during-the-pandemic/ 

Housebuilders’ Costs On The Rise

 Housebuilders’ costs increased by 1.7% in 1Q 2021 and by 3.6% between 1Q 2020 and 1Q 2021 according to the BCIS Private Housing Construction Price Index (PHCPI). Housing construction output grew by 2.7% in 1Q2021 compared with the 4Q 2020 but fell by 1.2% on the annual basis. Majority (94%) of respondents to the survey reported increases in costs. Of those, 44% stated increases in cost of materials, 37% indicated changes in both labour and material costs, 13% stated sub-contractors’ costs while 6.0% indicated labour costs. Insulation, aggregates, timber and timber products, steel as well as shortages of building materials, higher costs of transport, energy and labour costs/availability remain among the key cost pressures mentioned by respondents. Read more on the RICS website.

https://www.rics.org/uk/products/data-products/insights/private-housebuilders-costs-continued-to-increase-in-1q-2021/

MPs Attack Plan To Give Housebuilders Freedom To Build Over ‘Growth’ Zones

A radical government plan to give housebuilders freedom to build over designated “growth” zones has been attacked by MPs who have told ministers the public must retain rights to object to planning applications. Boris Johnson included in last month’s Queen’s speech plans to bring forward the biggest overhaul of England’s planning system since the second world war. Its boldest idea was to remove the need for detailed planning applications for buildings in designated growth zones. It sparked a Tory backbench revolt amid concerns constituents would lose power over their local areas. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jun/10/mps-attack-plan-to-give-housebuilders-freedom-to-build-over-growth-zones 

Government Will Act On Build Out Rates

Robert Jenrick has confirmed that the government intends to bring in measures designed to force housebuilders to build out sites more quickly, despite admitting that there was no evidence of “land-banking”. Speaking to the Home Builders’ Federation’s annual policy conference, the housing secretary said he was planning to act because there remained a “public perception” of landbanking, despite two government-commissioned investigations having found no evidence of it happening. The announcement comes in the wake of the confirmation that the government will press ahead with controversial planning reforms in the face of significant backbench disquiet over the measures. Read more on Housing Today.

https://www.housingtoday.co.uk/news/government-will-act-on-build-out-rates-jenrick-confirms/5112044.article 

Jenrick Pledges To Consider New Developer Levy

Housebuilders have reacted with scepticism to comments by Robert Jenrick suggesting the government is considering taxing developers if they don’t build out planning permissions quickly enough. Writing in the Daily Telegraph yesterday, the communities secretary said the government was going to “look at ways of ensuring sites build out as expected”, after the Local Government Association last week raised concerns over unused planning permissions for more than one million homes. Read more on the Housing Today website.

https://www.housingtoday.co.uk/news/jenrick-pledges-to-consider-new-developer-levy/5111886.article 

House Builders Face New Code Of Practice

 All builders of market sale homes will be expected to sign up to a new government-backed code of practice aimed at boosting new build standards and giving better protection to consumers. The ‘New Homes Code’ will be overseen by an independent body called the New Homes Quality Board (NHQB). The code, which is expected to be launched within six months following a consultation, will “place considerably more responsibility on developers to deliver quality homes and better consumer outcomes on all”, the NHQB said. Read more on the Social Housing website.

https://www.socialhousing.co.uk/news/news/house-builders-face-new-code-of-practice-to-tackle-quality-of-new-build-69456

Housebuilders Want ‘Broken Planning System’ Fixed

One in three housebuilders want the ‘broken’ planning system fixed to boost construction activity, says the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) in response to the government’s consultation on the Planning White Paper. The FMB asked SME housebuilders what was the one thing that the government could do to help them reach pre-coronavirus levels of activity and one in three singled out reform of the planning system. This figure emerges against a background of a marked decline in the number of small housebuilders. In the 1980s 40% of all new homes were built by SME housebuilders but that figure has now plunged to just 12%. Read more on the pbctoday website.

https://www.pbctoday.co.uk/news/planning-construction-news/planning-white-paper/84603/

Hiatus Fears As New Help To Buy Rules Are Finally Published

Housebuilders may not be able to get approval under the new scheme before the end of the year Housebuilders are concerned about a potential hiatus in sales following the publication of long-awaited details about how the new Help to Buy scheme starting next April will work. According to documents published by the government late last week setting out how the new Help to Buy equity loan scheme will work, it could be as late as December before housebuilders are formally approved to sell homes under the scheme. Read more on Housing Today.

https://www.housingtoday.co.uk/news/hiatus-fears-as-new-help-to-buy-rules-are-finally-published/5107735.article 

Developers Face Backlash For Avoiding Scrutiny Due To Lockdown

There are concerns housebuilders are pushing through developments without facing proper scrutiny due to the current lockdown period. One proposed development which prompted a heated response from some locals was in a semi-rural location near Penistone, South Yorkshire. The plan from Barratt & David Wilson Homes is for a 460-home development, which would increase the size of the market town by 10% if given the green light by Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council. While the plans for the development were submitted before the lockdown occurred, the situation has made it hard for some elderly residents to scrutinise the plans online, while others only found out about the proposal at the 11th hour. Read more on the Property Wire website.

https://www.propertywire.com/news/developers-could-be-circumnavigating-the-planning-process-during-lockdown/

Jenrick: More Housebuilders Should Reopen Sites

Housing secretary Robert Jenrick is encouraging more housebuilders to reopen their sites after Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey and Vistry said they were remobilising jobs. This morning Persimmon, the country’s biggest firm by profit, announced it was reopening mothballed sites from Monday with its chief executive warning that individuals who flouted the firm’s new safety protocols would be subject to disciplinary action and removed from site. Taylor Wimpey yesterday said its sites would begin a phased reopening from 4 May while Vistry said the “majority” of its projects would start up again from Monday. Jenrick told Housing Today: “I welcome developers reopening sites following careful consideration of public health guidance.” Read more on Housing Today.

https://www.housingtoday.co.uk/news/jenrick-more-housebuilders-should-reopen-sites/5105702.article

Redrow To Restart Work With Covid-19 Supervisors On All Sites

Redrow is the latest house builder to announce a return to work with a raft of Covid-19 protection measures on all sites. Redrow will be mobilising sites from May 11 with a phased return to construction on May 18 with “robust social distancing protocols and physical measures in place.” These include an e-learning module for all Redrow employees, induction videos for contractors, appointed Covid Supervisors for each site and enhanced signage and PPE. Read more on the Construction Enquirer website.

https://www.constructionenquirer.com/2020/04/27/redrow-to-restart-work-with-covid-19-supervsiors-on-all-sites/

Housebuilders Push Through ‘Virtual Sales’ In Lockdown

A growing number of residential developers are turning to virtual viewings to allow potential owners to “visit” newly-built homes, after the government called an effective halt to the housing market due to coronavirus. Responding to the government’s lockdown and newly-published guidance for prospective home buyers, Galliard Homes has set up a virtual viewing service, working with on-line technology group Reevo 360, and made its first sales. Read more on Housing Today.

https://www.housingtoday.co.uk/news/housebuilders-push-through-virtual-sales-in-lockdown/5105282.article

Housebuilders ‘More Optimistic’ For Year Ahead

Workloads for small building companies fell in the final quarter of 2019 but builders are more optimistic for 2020 according to a recent survey from the Federation of Master Builders (FMB). According to reports, in the three months to December 2019 builder’s workloads fell into negative territory with around 21% of firms reporting lower workloads, 5% higher than the previous quarter. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/housebuilders-more-optimistic-for-year-ahead/

Housebuilder Insolvencies Hit Four-Year High

Brexit uncertainty and a weak market in London and the South-east have conspired to put housebuilder insolvencies at a four-year high, according to data obtained by accountancy firm Price Bailey. It said Insolvency Service figures showed 343 housebuilders went bust in the year to September 2019, up by 26% on the figure last year. The number reflects a difficult market for SME housebuilders unable to benefit from the government’s Help to Buy subsidies and hampered by political and economic uncertainty, and equates to a rise of more than two-thirds on the figure from just four years ago. Read more on the Housing Today website.

https://www.housingtoday.co.uk/news/housebuilder-insolvencies-hit-four-year-high/5103195.article

Framework Launched To Keep Next Generation Of Homes Safer

With falls said to be the biggest single cause of accidental death, a framework to help housebuilders ensure the next generation of homes are safer has been launched by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents. Safer by design: A framework to reduce serious accidental injury in new-build homes has been developed with industry experts, and encourages housebuilders to go beyond current regulatory requirements for accident prevention. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/framework-launched-to-keep-next-generation-of-homes-safer/

Housing Minister Admits No Starter Homes Have Been Built Since 2016

Kit Malthouse has admitted that the government will fail to keep its 2015 election promise to build 200,000 starter homes by 2020. In 2016, the government allocated £1.2 billion to the ‘starter homes’ programme, which aimed to build 200,000 properties exclusively for first-time buyers at a 20% discount on their market value. When asked how many starter homes had been built since 2016, the housing minister stated: “At the moment, none”. This comes as housebuilders admit that they are unable to keep up with demand for Help to Buy properties. Read more on the Showhouse website.

https://www.showhouse.co.uk/news/housing-minister-admits-no-starter-homes-have-been-built-since-2016/

Help-To-Buy Scheme Pushes Housebuilder Dividends To £2.3bn

Britain’s biggest housebuilders paid out £2.3bn in dividends in their most recent financial year, as the help-to-buy subsidy pumped up their profits and house prices. The nine biggest housebuilders listed on the London Stock Exchange declared the dividend payouts in their last full financial years.   Help to buy, introduced in 2013 was one of the flagship policies of the coalition government. Former Conservative chancellor George Osborne hoped to boost home ownership among young people, as house price growth far outpaced wage growth. However, many economists believe the scheme boosted house prices without making a significant impact on the supply of new houses, enabling a profits bonanza for Britain’s biggest housebuilders and their shareholders. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/mar/01/help-to-buy-pushes-uk-housebuilder-dividends-to-23bn