4 INDUSTRY NEWS
Housebuilder & Developer
Publisher Lesley Mayo
FROM THE EDITOR
James Parker
james@netmagmedia.eu
No one should really have been surprised at Theresa May’s decision to hold a snap general election. Political history teaches us that if nothing else, politicians tend to be opportunists. She seized this opportunity to strengthen her majority on the back of a recent groundswell of patriotic fervour, of course claiming the decision was taken ‘in the interests of the country’ and nothing to do with party politics.
With her Government now likely to return, it has the hammering out of a messy EU divorce to look forward to, but in the meantime housebuilding needs to get on with things. It looks increasingly unlikely that Corbyn will be getting near no.10, so Labour’s pledge of a million homes, half of which would be social housing, is not an urgent concern.
The recent ‘State of the Nation’ report by the Government’s watchdog the National Audit Office confirms that housebuilding has not kept pace with need, and that this is “particularly acute” in London. The NAO says that 227,000 new households are appearing per year in the capital, well outstripping the national average. The industry needs to deliver 174,000 additional new builds and conversions per year to hit the Government’s target of 1 million new homes by 2020, says the NAO.
ON THE COVER
05.17
Recent economic results have been a mixed bag. GDP slowed sharply in the first quarter of 2017, and if people have less money in their pockets as inflation worsens, less houses are likely to be bought and built. Despite the GDP figures, housebuilding performed well in April, at a four-month high according to the PMI. Some however are attributing the slowing in growth as ‘the first signs of the Brexit effect.’ With a continuing weak pound likely as we leave the EU, no matter how big the demand for homes, if costs are too high then no-one wins.
DCLG was also “reliant on the market,” said the NAO, and criticised the fact that it was “dominated by around 10 large firms” who between them accounted for nearly two-thirds of all new private homes built. The body said that even the HBF has agreed that these large firms “limit the rate at which they build to what they believe the market can absorb.”
Mark Farmer has responded to the recent DCLG select committee report on capacity in housebuilding following the NAO report, agreeing that more diversity was needed in the market “both in terms of tenure and delivery models.” He added that stable policy direction on this beyond 8 June would be ideal, however this sounds like wishful thinking given that Brexit is the sole short-term focus.
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And with skills and labour shortages acknowledged as the big issue by DCLG and most others, especially in the light of Brexit, this needs to be addressed in the negotiations. It may not be a vote winner, but failure to do so could see a lot more people waiting for homes.
James Parker Printed in England WWW.
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