s to rebuild housing ou like to see from new housing minister Mark Prisk?
This is as much about confidence as material changes. There are a number of positives – first government has now signed up to the importance of housing and that a housing stimulus can not only address the critical housing shortage and the lack of housing market activity but act as a fairly rapid stimulant to the economy as a whole. Second the government has put £780m back into new build home ownership, private renting and affordable housing schemes as well as introducing a new £10bn loan guarantee scheme. We await the details of the latter and the reality is that it will take at least a year or more for those loans to come into place (and a lot longer for the revenue benefits that flow from cheaper loans to produce either more output or significant cash surpluses).
As with the Funding for Lending scheme it takes time.
Moreover there is a degree of confusion and contradiction: the new money for FirstBuy will slow the build up on NewBuy and the announcements on Section 106 and planning controls come so quick on the heels of the NPPF that they cause new uncertainty at a time when we can ill afford it. Mark Prisk is clearly keen to see action on the ground and
there is a welcome new urgency around implementation. But with a further housing strategy announcement due in November (and no doubt more initiatives) we risk more policy steps forwards while in practice we go backwards because of uncertainty at ground level.
The fact is despite the Coalition being in power for over two years and many initiatives, housing output has slipped backwards and activity is at around 50% of normal levels. An era of private finance and equity for housing development is getting closer but still not quite there and mortgage finance uplifted a little by FLS and other schemes is still in short supply with lenders opting for caution. We need a more coordinated stance between the FSA, DCLG, DWP and HM Treasury so that all the good work does really lift the market.
Peter Williams, executive director, IMLA
It is undoubted that both the support to get housing developments recommenced and the initiative to get marginal developments with planning consents started has got a number of sites moving that would not have gone live without this intervention. In addition both the NewBuy scheme and the Funding for Lending scheme will have impacts on the market. The real impacts will be seen in 2013. In addition to this, the changes to planning consents and the proposals to allow extensions to proceed with fewer formalities will all add to the value of the housing stock. However these are all short term tactical solutions to two issues. There is a lack of affordable housing and a lack of funding for those that can afford to purchase without significant deposits. Extending the NewBuy scheme to more than new-build properties would be one solution, although the funds might quickly run out. Of more importance is that we see a new housing strategy. Mark Prisk needs to get representatives from all the key stakeholders, architects, planners, lenders both corporate and mortgage, builders, surveyors, estate agents, mortgage brokers and academics to a series of meetings to talk honestly.
These should be collective debates. We have long heard that we are going to see a reduction in private ownership and that social housing will hold firm. The gap is to be filled by the private rental sector – buy- to-let. But where are the landlords coming from and who is going to fund this growth? We need to be building many more housing units and these may not be the same as those currently with consents. The real challenge is over what type of developments we want to see going forwards. Are we happy to continue this haphazard approach where the eventual mix on a road of privately owned or bought to let happens by chance? Alternatively should we be planning with this growth in mind and building rented developments that could then be
Robert Sinclair, chief executive, AMI
serviced in a way to meet that community’s needs.
ense. Do you want to be a part of the next Bigger Issue? Email
sarah@mortgageintroducer.com www.mortgageintroducer.com MORTGAGE INTRODUCER OCTOBER 2012 27
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