INDUSTRY NEWS 7
Hard Brexit will leave workers’ future in doubt
The future of over a quarter of London’s construction workforce, who come from the European Union, is uncertain if the Government goes ahead with a ‘Hard Brexit,’ according to a report released by London Mayor Sadiq Khan. The ‘Housing in London’ report reveals
that, of those working in London’s construction sector, 95,000 are from the EU. Figures showed that 350,000 people work in London’s construction sector, meaning 27 per cent are from the EU, with just over half from the UK. The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said:
“When I speak to businesses – both large and small – one of the biggest issues they raise with me is the skills gap. They tell me that maintaining a skilled workforce is absolutely crucial to their future and the future of the whole economy. “You can’t escape the fact that a ‘Hard
Brexit’ could leave a quarter of the skilled construction workforce in the capital high and dry, which would have a crippling effect on our plans to build the homes Londoners desperately need.” He added that fixing the housing crisis “is going to be a marathon, not a sprint.” Industry experts have suggested that
London needs an extra 13,000 new workers each year until 2021 in order to plug the skills gap and meet the additional demands on the construction industry, highlighting the importance of London’s continued attraction to talent post-Brexit. Mark Farmer, CEO of Cast Real Estate
& Construction Consultancy, said: “It’s very clear that the construction industry is far more reliant on migrant labour than anywhere else in the UK. To safeguard against this, London will require at least short to medium term continued access to EU migrant labour, and early protections given to its existing migrant workforce.”
FIXING THE HOUSING CRISIS “IS GOING TO BE A MARATHON, NOT A SPRINT
Mortgage lending hits £18.9bn
Gross mortgage lending reached £18.9bn in January, according to The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). This is 6 per cent lower than December’s
lending total of £20bn, but 2 per cent higher than the £18.6bn lent in January last year. This is the highest lending total for a January since 2008 (£25.2bn). Commenting on the market conditions,
CML economist Mohammad Jamei said: “Overall, mortgage lending continues to hold up pretty well, but we seem to have a twin-track market. Weakness in buy-to-let and home movers has been offset by an increase in first-time buyers and remort- gage lending. “A continuing acute shortage of homes
being offered for sale is one aspect of a broken housing market that looks unlikely to be resolved in the near term.”
outright sale and shared ownership properties is significant for some providers. In this context, it is timely to reinforce our expectations around the quality of stress testing across the sector. We would like to see more evidence of boards having a clear idea of the triggers for implementing any mitigation plans.” The report, covering the period 1
October to 31 December 2016, is based on responses from 236 private registered providers (PRPs) and PRP groups who own or manage more than 1,000 homes.
Starts at nine- year high
The number of new build home starts last year reached the highest level since 2007, according to new figures from the DCLG. The housebuilding data showed that
HCA quarterly survey published
The social housing sector has shown strong operating cashflows overall and sufficient funding for its forecast capital investment, according to the latest quarterly survey by the Homes and Communities Agency. £4.3bn of new facilities were said to have
been agreed, including the re-financing of existing debt as £1.8bn was repaid. Investment in new housing supply was reported at £2bn in the Q4 of 2016, and revenue from sales activity was found to be higher than in the September quarter. Fiona McGregor, HCA’s director of
regulation, said the report suggested that the sector “has sufficient liquidity, and is well placed to respond to changes in the wider economic environment. Increasing levels of refinancing, both as a result of the maturity profile of existing debt and active treasury management, demonstrate the sector’s ability to raise the finance it needs.” She continued: “Although we can see
that providers are managing income collec- tion risks and maintaining cashflows within business parameters, the pipeline of
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153,370 new homes were started in the year to December, up 5 per cent on the previous year. Research also showed that more than 140,500 homes were completed in the year to December 2016. The figures also showed growth across
the country, with Islington and Manchester experiencing high levels of starts in the year to December 2016, with an annual increase of 296 per cent and 323 per cent respectively. Gavin Barwell, Housing and
Planning Minister, commented: “We’ve got the country building again, with the highest number of housing starts for nine years. However, we know there’s more to be done.” Meanwhile, figures from the Council of
Mortgage Lenders showed that first-time buyer lending totalled 338,900 loans in 2016, up 8 per cent on last year.
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