6 INDUSTRY NEWS
Affordable housing provision “collapses” across London
The building of affordable housing in London has collapsed by as much as 62 per cent in some London boroughs this decade, analysis by developer Southern Grove has revealed.
Half of all the capital’s boroughs have seen rates of new building tumble, with six London local authorities, including the City of London, seeing new supply of affordable homes fall by more than a third when compared with the 2000s. Hammersmith & Fulham and Redbridge were the worst performing boroughs, with the number of new affordable homes created between 2010/11 and 2018/19 falling 61.6 per cent on a like-for-like basis. In Sutton, the drop has been 45.4 per cent, Richmond upon Thames saw a 39.5 per cent decline, and Haringey has fallen 34.9 per cent.
The City of London saw the steepest fall in new affordable homes of any London local authority, recording a 64.1 per cent drop.
As the 2010s drew to a close, the overall supply of new affordable housing hasn’t improved at all across the capital this decade. In fact, it has fallen by 1.2
per cent on a like for like basis, according to the latest government figures released by the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). Consistency remains a problem for
London, with a third of areas failing to maintain the same rate of building last year that they had achieved in the previ- ous 12 months.
Analysis of the latest figures shows that last year Merton was the only authority where the supply of new affordable homes fell by more than 50 per cent in 12 months. The borough created 60.8 per cent fewer affordable homes in 2018/19 year on year, while in Enfield the fall was 46.3 per cent, and in Haringey the decline was 42.3 per cent.
The latest figures for 2018/19 show that the 9,205 affordable homes created were only just over half of the 18,120 created at the capital’s peak in 2014/15. Additionally, according to the London Assembly there have never been enough affordable homes built in the capital. It estimates that 43,000 new affordable homes are needed each year up to 2041 to meet the demand.
Andrew Southern, chairman of devel- oper Southern Grove, commented: “Years of abysmal house building rates have left London with an enormous black hole in its provision of affordable homes. “There is the political will to build more affordable homes but, as these figures show, this is still not translating into enough completed properties for people to live in.
“In London, the only way to generate
the affordable housing stock required is to build higher. This can still truly involve excellent design at key locations over the capital’s transport nodes, but planners need to meet developers half way to ensure there can be some real action.”
Data reveals highest price rises across UK this decade
The largest increases in UK house prices in the last 10 years have been seen in Thurrock, Essex, according to analysis of Land Registry data by modular developer Project Etopia.
The analysis showed that the comparison between the average house prices at the start and end of the 2010s showed increases in value of up to 76.2 per cent over the last 10 years, and that on average, prices have risen by 38.8 per cent in the UK, excluding London. Thurrock was revealed to have recorded the greatest rise in prices, increasing by 76.2 per cent from £156,741 to £276,164. Three Rivers and Watford, Hertfordshire, were not far behind with 75.2 per cent and 74.3 per cent rises respectively.
Only three parts of the country, all in the north of England, saw prices decrease, falling by 7.8 per cent in Hartlepool, 1 per cent in Redcar and Cleveland, and 0.4 per cent in Blackpool.
Joseph Daniels, CEO of Project Etopia, commented: “Healthy appreciation will be welcomed by many homeowners, but for the wider country this is a totally unsus- tainable situation.
“The UK must accelerate housebuilding to increase supply over the next decade and temper Britain’s affordability problems. Only Modern Methods of Construction can deliver new homes fast enough to meet the demand and ensure ordinary hard-working people can afford to buy property right across the UK.”
WWW.HBDONLINE.CO.UK
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
