14 industry news NEW COMPLETIONS
Completions at a new high
T
he number of newly built homes has continued to rise, and is now at the highest level since 2008 to 2009 accord-
ing the DCLG’s National Statistics. 139,690 new homes were completed in the
year to March – a rise of 12 per cent on the pre- vious year. 13,680 homes were started in 2015 to 2016, continuing the upward trend as both starts and completions have continued to grow gradu- ally in the last two years. Housing and Planning Minister, Brandon
Lewis said: "We've got the country building again and are seeing our housebuilding efforts paying off with this considerable increase in the number of homes built in just one year. "This is real progress, but there is more to do.
That's why we are going further and increasing our investment in housebuilding to ensure many more hard-working people can benefit."
HOUSE PRICES
NHF research finds high-earning first-time buyers rely on ‘bank of mum and dad’
A
ccording to new a new analysis by the National Housing Federation, earning a healthy salary is no longer enough to
buy a home; first-time buyers were shown to need family wealth to help with the deposit. The figures, prepared for the '100,000 Afford-
able Homes for London' campaign, show that almost a third of top-earning first-time buyers got a gift or loan from their families for a deposit. This figure has risen 11 per cent in under a decade. The number of middle class first-time buyers
has also fallen precipitously. Households earning less than £50,000 a year have seen their chances of becoming homeowners decline by 15 per cent over the last decade. Only 20 per cent of first- time buyers last year came from households earning around the national average wage. With average deposits in 2014-15 hitting
£42,500, few young people can hope to save this amount on their own while also paying expensive rents, said the Federation. Discussing the figures, David Orr from the
National Housing Federation said: "Borrowing from the bank of mum and dad might help some people get onto the housing ladder, but it's simply not an option for everyone. Hard working pro-
respond online at
www.hbdonline.co.uk
fessionals shouldn't feel like their home-owning aspirations are impossible just because their par- ents aren’t rich. "Housing associations are here to change that
– our '100,000 Affordable Homes for London' campaign is a concrete plan to ensure the next generation of first-time buyers don't have their future defined by their parent's wealth."
EBBSFLEET GARDEN CITY
Henley Camland to purchase part of Ebbsfleet Garden City
Securities, in a deal which sees the acquisition of the two undeveloped villages at the western end of the new city’s plan, and which is a highly sig- nificant first acquisition for the company. Henley Camland will now be investing £200m
D
to implement significant infrastructure works at Ebbsfleet Garden City, the plans for which were unveiled by Chancellor George Osborne in 2014. This includes levelling parts of what was a former quarry, developing roads and creating a new lake. The company will also deliver neighbourhood retail, leisure and community facilities, including two primary schools and a secondary school. Managing director of Camland Peter Nelson
commented: "With Camland having worked in an advisory role for the last four years in the
eveloper Henley Camland has agreed to purchase a significant portion of Ebbsfleet Garden City from Land
Ebbsfleet Garden City area, we have complete confidence in the new community’s potential and look forward to building on the good work that Land Securities has already completed."
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