New Homes: Where Is The Supply Being Concentrated?

Since the seventies, housing starts and completions across England and Wales have been on a downward trajectory. The long run average over the last 50 years has been around 180,000 per annum, with the highest numbers being achieved at the start of this period and the lowest in the immediate aftermath of the global financial crisis of 2007/08. Over the last few years government initiatives, including the Starter Homes Fund, Housing Zones and Get Britain Building to name a few, have been launched to help stimulate the house building industry. This plus a recovery in the housing market has resulted in a pick-up of supply taking both starts and completions in line with each other at about 150,000 in 2015/16. Read more on Estate Agent Today.

Help to Buy Fails To Stimulate New Housebuilding Boom

The number of new housing starts has increased by just 7.7 per cent since George Osborne’s Help to Buy policy was introduced, belying government claims that the home buying subsidies have stimulated a significant increase in residential construction. Since the policy was introduced in April 2013, about 113,000 families have been assisted in buying homes. The Communities Secretary, Greg Clark, also argued that the policy was “getting Britain building”, claiming private house building was up by more than a third since the launch of the scheme. However, the latest official construction figures showed total new housing starts in England were 33,280 in the second quarter of the year, up just 7.7 per cent from the second quarter of 2013 and still well below the average before the financial crisis of 44,000 starts a quarter. Read more on the Independent website.

Housing: Construction – Parliamentary Written Answer

Emma Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many (a) homes and (b) affordable homes have been completed under the Get Britain Building scheme to date; and what estimate he has made of the number of jobs created by that scheme.

Brandon Lewis: From 2012-13 to September 2014, there have been 12,293 dwellings started, against the target of 12,000. The scheme is primarily aimed at unlocking stalled market housing, and is not an affordable housing programme as such; however, there have been 1,397 affordable starts which have been unlocked as part of wider schemes. Completions lag behind starts due to the time it takes to build out a site, but 4,890 dwellings had been completed to September 2014, and this figure will continue rising.  We estimate that the Get Britain Building programme is supporting between 1 to 2 jobs per unit, which suggests that up to 24,586 jobs have been supported so far.  [Edit]

HCA Sets Out Delivery Priorities for Next Four Years

The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) has set out the ways in which it will use its land, investment and regulation to deliver new homes over the next four years.The agency's 2014 to 2018 plan details its core targets in 2014/15, including:

• Completion of 30,000 new affordable homes, with a further 22,500 affordable homes brought up to a decent standard.

• Development of the regulatory framework to "better protect social housing assets in a sector where risks are becoming more complex".

• Completion of over 9,500 new market sale homes, including over 5,500 through Get Britain Building, to increase private housing supply.

• Release of HCA land with housing capacity for over 6,000 new homes.

• Creation of over 315,000 sqm of new employment floor space to support local economies; and bringing nearly 230 hectares of previously developed land back into productive use.

Download the plan from the HCA website.

Tories' £570million Housing Scheme Builds Just 47 Affordable Homes in THREE YEARS

David Cameron’s flagship £570million scheme to tackle Britain’s housing crisis has built fewer than 50 affordable homes, damning figures reveal. The Prime Minister claimed two years ago that his “Get Britain Building” project would see 16,000 new homes built and tens of thousands of new jobs created. But of just 715 new properties which have been built so far, only 47 are affordable family homes. Labour said it was a disgrace that just 7% of homes under the scheme were affordable. The programme was first announced in November, 2011 with a promise of 16,000 homes and 30,000 jobs. Read more on the Daily Mirror website.

New Towns – Parliamentary Written Answer

Emma Reynolds: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what work his Department has contributed to the drafting of a report or prospectus on garden cities since May 2010.  

Danny Alexander: Since May 2010, the Treasury has worked with DCLG on a range of policies to support housing supply, including the Government's Affordable Housing Programme, the Get Britain Building and Build to Rent schemes, and the locally-led large sites programme, which was extended at autumn statement 2013.

Boost to Councils and Communities through the New Homes Bonus

Council efforts to get Britain building are to be rewarded with a multi-million pound New Homes Bonus.  Over the next year, England’s 353 councils are set to share a cash payout of £661 million, after delivering 142,000 new homes, including 58,000 affordable properties.  This funding also rewards councils for bringing 13,000 long-term empty properties back into use. The provisional allocation, to be paid in the 2013 to 2014 financial year, means councils will have received £1.3 billion through the New Homes Bonus scheme since its launch in April 2011.  Read more on the CLG website.

Stimulating Housing Supply - Government Initiatives

This Commons Library Standard Note outlines key Government measures aimed at stimulating housing supply.  It explains, amongst other things;

Affordable Housing Programme

New Homes Bonus

The Growing Places Fund

The Get Britain Building Fund

Build now, pay later

Right to Buy

Private rented housing

REITs, and various first buy and other home ownership issues.  Download a copy of the paper from the House of Commons Library.

Britain's Broken Housing Market Is Not Being Fixed

The Government is falling well short in tackling the country’s burgeoning housing crisis, leading housing groups have warned, on the day that new figures are expected to show the country is not building enough new homes. In their second Housing Report, the National Housing Federation, Shelter and The Chartered Institute of Housing say the Government is failing to deliver on five out of ten key housing indicators. These include housing supply, affordability of the private rented sector and homelessness.  The report urges the Government to make good on its promises, in particular to ‘get Britain building’, which as well as providing much-needed homes for thousands of families, will also deliver new jobs and economic growth.  The report also warns ministers of the urgency of meeting the nation’s housing needs as pressures, such as falling incomes and a growing and ageing population, intensify over the coming years, putting an increasing strain on Britain’s broken housing market.  Download a copy of the report from the CIH website.

£400m Building Fund Mainly a Loan

The government’s £400 million fund to unlock a wave of English house building projects is unlikely to include a significant amount of grant money. The get Britain building fund, which was launched as part of the government’s housing strategy is designed to provide financing to projects on mothballed sites. However, unlike its predecessor, the £400 million kick-start programme, the scheme will see little or no public money given to developers. Instead, the fund will come in the form of development loans at commercial rates or equity stakes in projects. In a Home Builders Federation briefing note to its members the industry body warned that the scheme would include ‘little, if any, grants or gap funding’. Read more on Inside Housing.