Homelessness Rising And Villagers Priced Out In Rural England

The number of social homes being built in rural England has fallen by more than 80% in the last six years. Research has found just 1,309 social houses were built in rural areas in 2017-18, despite hundreds of thousands of people stuck on long waiting lists. Sky News and the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) can reveal that social housing - previously known as council housing - has fallen by 83% between 2011-12 and 2018. Read more on the Sky News website.

https://news.sky.com/story/social-housing-falls-sharply-in-rural-england-as-villagers-priced-out-or-made-homeless-11819138

Right To Buy: Flagship Government Housing Scheme In Trouble

A signature Government housing scheme is in trouble, as ministers are uncertain how they intend to pay for it despite the policy being announced nearly three years ago. In 2014, the Government announced a major new housing initiative - a big extension of Right to Buy. Three years on, Sky News has seen figures which show the scheme has barely got off the ground. Only 55 sales have been completed in a tiny number of pilot areas, with only a few hundred more in the pipeline. Consequently thousands of people are in limbo. Read more on the Sky News website.

Tens Of Thousands Of Quick-Build Homes Set To Tackle Housing Crisis

Britain is to get tens of thousands of new quick-build homes as the Government scrambles to hit its target of building a million new homes in Britain by the end of the decade. Sajid Javid told Sky News that "ready to go" homes - from factory built to custom-made apartment blocks - will be a key component of his housing white paper to be published this month as he looks for new schemes to hit his eye-watering target. The communities secretary has been on a fact-finding mission in the Netherlands and Germany this week to examine a new generation of prefab homes in what is set to be the biggest revival of this type of housing since the post-second world war reconstruction effort. Read more on Sky News.

Bank Of England Set For New Buy-To-Let Powers

The Bank of England seems set to be given greater powers over the buy-to-let market, after the Chancellor expressed concern about the housing "bubble". A consultation was launched late last year after the Financial Policy Committee, which is part of the Bank of England, recommended it should be granted the power to direct regulators to require lenders to restrict buy-to-let loans. The powers included allowing the FPC to cap the maximum loan-to-value ratio (the size of the loan relative to the value of the property), as well as the costs of debt servicing relative to rents. The FPC, whose role is to identify and head-off possible risks to the financial system, has had similar powers over residential mortgages since April last year. Read more on the Sky News website.

Rents Rise At Fastest Pace Since 2011

Tenants faced the fastest rise in monthly rent bills since 2011 last year, according to a report by estate agents which found arrears were also on the increase. A monthly index compiled by Your Move and Reeds Rains suggested that despite a dip in December, rents grew by 3.4% during the year - rising £27 on December 2014 to an average £794 per month. It showed that at the same time, the percentage of all unpaid rent had risen to 9.3% of the total due - up from 8.2% in November - as Christmas loomed. That is despite the official rate of inflation - which excludes housing costs - running around zero for much of the year. Read more on Sky News.

Rise In Number Of 'Hidden' Rural Rough Sleepers

According to the latest Government figures, the estimated number of rough sleepers has risen by 14% in the UK, with 2,744 people sleeping on the streets on any one night. The South West is one of the areas outside London believed to have seen the biggest increases, with charities noting a lack of housing and high rents have led to a growing number of people sleeping rough in rural locations. The reasons behind people sleeping rough in the countryside differ - some want to disappear, others feel safer sleeping there than in urban areas. Despite the reported rise in rural rough sleepers, charities warn the hidden nature of the problem means it is easy for those affected to drop off the radar. Read more on the Sky website.

Housing Crisis: 1m Construction Workers Needed

The UK needs to create one million more construction jobs over the next five years if house-building targets are to be met, according to a new report. The study was released as the Government moves to realise a lofty ambition of building one million new homes by 2020 - aided by relaxing planning laws - with a focus on more affordable homes. But the drive to get more shovels at-the-ready to ease the UK's housing shortage has been met with complaints from the construction industry that a lack of skilled staff is hampering development. Underlining the sense of urgency was the Federation of Master Builders (FMB), which said the skills shortage was becoming more acute rather than improving. Thousands of top labourers, who lost their jobs and headed abroad to find work during the financial crisis, have not returned while apprenticeships are falling short of requirements. Read more on the Sky News website.

UK 'Breaching Human Rights' Over Housing

The UK is in breach of its international human rights duties by failing to provide people with adequate homes in the face of a severe housing crisis, leading charities have claimed. A reduction in social housing in England and inadequate, unaffordable rental accommodation in the private sector is driving a growing number of families into homelessness, the organisations warn in a report. Produced by the group Just Fair, whose members include Crisis, Oxfam, Amnesty International, Save the Children and UNICEF UK, the report argues that the fact the number of individuals forced to sleep rough has risen by 55% since 2010 - with 280,000 households at risk of homelessness - is a breach of the UK's international obligations. Read more on the Sky News website.

Crackdown on 'Rich' Council House Tenants

Big earners living in council houses or flats and paying cheap subsidised rents are to lose the perk in a Budget crackdown. George Osborne will announce that anyone earning over £40,000 in London or £30,000 outside the capital will lose benefits and have to pay the full market rent. The crackdown, which will save taxpayers £250m a year, is aimed at the likes of Frank Dobson, who still lives in a council flat near the British Museum, despite serving as a Cabinet Minister under Tony Blair and earning a six-figure salary. Read more on the Sky News website.

London Rents 'Double Those across Rest of UK'

Tenants in London now pay rents that double those across the rest of Britain, according to new research. Average rents across the UK rose by 6.3% over the past year and now stand at £862 a month compared to £811 a year ago, the HomeLet Rental Index's study found. But tenants in the capital face average monthly rents of £1,412, compared to £694 for the rest of the UK once London is excluded, and saw prices soar 11.2% in the year up to June 2014. Out of the country's 12 regions, only the North East of England and Scotland.  Read more on the Sky News website.

Buy-To-Let Borrowing Rates Dive to New Low

Buy-to-let borrowing rates are now back to their lowest levels since before the recession. Some rates are fixed as low as 2.4%, though these types of deals do require a large deposit of around 40%. Rates have been driven down partly by the growing number of people renting city properties, while lenders are slashing rates to attract new customers.  The reduction in rates, and steady rise over 2013 in buy-to-let lending, is fuelling fierce competition between landlords and would-be first-time buyers. The rental market is also contributing to the competition due to a wider reversal in the trend of home ownership. Roughly 10 million people now live in homes rented from private landlords. That's double the number who did back in 2000. Read more on the Sky News website.

We WILL Build Two New Garden Cities, Says Pickles

Eric Pickles has confirmed that two 'garden cities' could be built in the south east in a bid to tackle Britain's housing crisis. The Communities Secretary insisted that they would not be forced on unwilling new communities, and said local councils had already come forward to express an interest. He insisted his department had not been responsible for drawing up a document, which was reported last week as proposing new settlements at Yalding in Kent and Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire. Speaking on Sky News, he said no decisions had been made on location. Read more on the Daily Mail website.

Landlords 'Avoid Tenants on Universal Credit'

Sky News has obtained figures which suggest a rising number of landlords are steering clear of benefit claimants over fears of non-payment. The data from the National Landlords’ Association shows the number of landlords letting to people on benefits has halved from (46%) to just one in five (22%) in the last three years. And 52% of landlords say they would not even consider letting to someone on benefits because of those who do, seven out of 10 have experienced rent arrears in the past 12 months averaging £3,000 each. Read more on the Sky News website.

Charities Turn 'Bedroom Tax' Attack On PM

Charities have accused the Prime Minister of giving "inaccurate" statements and raising "false hopes" by suggesting that disabled people who need an extra room are exempt from the so-called "bedroom tax". Eighteen chief executives of leading disabled charities have written to David Cameron criticising comments he made during Prime Minister's Questions. Mr Cameron was asked about calls to exempt disabled people from the spare room subsidy and responded: "Obviously, what we have done is to exempt disabled people who need an extra room." The charities, which include Carers UK, the RNIB and Sense, say he has made similar remarks twice this year.  Read more on the Sky News website.

'Tax to Tackle London Bubble'

George Osborne is considering slapping new taxes on foreign property investors in an effort to tackle what many see as a house price bubble in London and the South East. The Chancellor is actively investigating imposing capital gains tax on foreign owners of British property at the Autumn Statement in December. The Treasury has already provisionally costed the measures and is awaiting a final decision from Mr Osborne in the coming weeks. While those living in Britain have to pay capital gains tax (CGT) of 18% or, more commonly, 28%, if they make a profit when reselling all but their main home, non-resident property owners are currently exempt for all their properties. Read more on Sky News.

Buying a House 'Cheaper Than Renting'

Home buyers are almost £900 better off a year than those who rent - but an upturn in house prices means the gap has narrowed in recent months, a report has found. Research by Halifax, which based its calculations on its own database as well as official figures, found that people buying a three-bedroom house face typical costs of £672 a month, which is £73 less than the average £745 a month cost of renting. Five years ago, renting was considered much more financially attractive than buying, but home buying costs have since fallen by more than a third, meaning that buying has become cheaper than renting. Read more on the Sky News website.

Cameron Raises Universal Credit Doubts

David Cameron has raised doubts over whether his government's flagship welfare reform will be delivered by 2017 - a deadline that has already been delayed once.  The Prime Minister said that universal credit was "immensely complicated" and warned "we should not be religious about timings". His comments are at odds with those made by the Work and Pensions Secretary just days ago. Iain Duncan Smith staked his political reputation on a promise that the project, which will see six different benefits rolled into one, will be implemented on budget and within the new timetable. The minister made the comments after a scathing report by the Government’s financial watchdog. Read more on the Sky News website.

How the Government Could Backtrack From Help to Buy

The Help to Buy mortgage scheme has proved controversial since the moment the plans were unveiled. In calling for a rethink, Vince Cable contributed the most damaging criticism so far.  “We don't want a new housing bubble," he told Sky News.  That is the primary concern of critics. The Government appears hell-bent on boosting house prices. Barratt Homes have said the average selling price of one of their homes is up 9pc on a year ago and the chief executive of Barclays raised his concern about a "property-driven boom". Meanwhile the boom in buy-to-let rolls on, with lending up by a nearly third on a year ago.  If the trends continue, and prices rises accelerate, the question for the Government will be how to backtrack from Help to Buy, without the embarrassment of cancelling it.  That would not be difficult. The 15pc of the mortgage the Government is willing to guarantee could be reduced. Offer less and the impact on the market - and risk to taxpayers - is greatly reduced. Read more on the Daily Telegraph website.

BoE Won't Let Help to Buy Fuel Housing Bubble

The new Bank of England Governor has pledged that the Bank will bring the Help to Buy scheme to an end if it threatens to create a housing bubble. Mark Carney said he and the Financial Policy Committee would not extend the scheme beyond its initial three-year period if it started to threaten the stability of the economy.  The statement is doubly significant since George Osborne has given the Bank the responsibility to switch off or extend the scheme, under which the Treasury will help fund a portion of homebuyers’ deposits.  The Governor’s comments came as he unveiled his new policy of “forward guidance”, under which the Bank will pre-commit to fixing interest rates until unemployment drops beneath 7%. He said he would not allow it, or Help to Buy, to fuel a housing bubble. Read more on the Sky News website.