Greece
Over a third of councils in England are boosting self build homes
More than 130 local councils in England, some 39%, are already taking action to help boost the opportunities available for people who want to build their own homes, new research shows. This first comprehensive survey of custom and self build activity across all local councils in England also shows that one in five councils have already set up a local custom and self build register or carried out assessments to measure local demand for people who want to build their own homes. On top of this 77 seven councils are already creating opportunities for private home builders through their Local Plans, the survey undertaken by the National Custom and Self Build Association (NaCSBA) found. These involve a range of initiatives from policies asking for a mix of homes on sites and promoting private home building as part of affordable housing initiatives, to requiring building plots on larger housing sites, supporting collective projects and commitments to work with industry and local communities to identify suitable opportunities and, in some cases, providing finance support. More than 30 councils are identifying suitable sites or locations where private home building is encouraged and in some cases are disposing of public land or buying land and a number of councils are also identifying more significant opportunities. Opportunities include the re-use of former public sector sites, proposals to include private home building opportunities as part of future urban and village extensions, and introducing new planning policies that encourage affordable self and custom build homes in rural areas. Councils in the North East are currently the most proactive where 70% of them are progressing initiatives to make it easier for people who want to build their own homes. Two other regions, the South West and the West Midlands, have half or more of all councils bringing forward initiatives. The least active region is currently London, where just 21% of councils have so far taken action. However, since 2012 the overall level of local authority activity across England has approximately trebled. The association says that if this level of activity continues then by the end of 2016, between 150 and 200 councils will have brought forward new planning policies and initiatives to support private homebuilders across England. By the end of 2018 the combined impact of all these initiatives will assist towards enabling up to 10,000 more self or custom build opportunities to come forward and if this happens the scale of the current self build sector will have doubled. The NaCSBA research and development team has already completed visits to several German regions, and locations across the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain and Scotland. In addition the team is examining the Irish, US and Australian markets, and is currently investigating how the Scandinavian and some Far Eastern sectors operate. ‘Our international work has focused on how local councils support people who want to build their own affordable homes. In most other countries a significantly higher proportion of all housing… Continue reading
Over 36% of UK home sales fall through before completion, new research shows
More than one in three house sales in the second quarter of 2015 in the UK failed to reach completion, according to new data, with the most common reason a change of mind. Figures indicate a house sale fall through rate of 36.34%, a rise of over 13.5% from the reported 22.76% rate in the first quarter of the year, according to research from Quick Move Now. The figures over a six month period show it was 24.77% at the end of the first quarter but increased to 28.44% at the end of the second quarter of 2015. ‘As the property market becomes more buoyant and an increasing number of properties become available, both sides of a property sale feel they have options if the sale is not progressing as quickly or as well as they had hoped,’ said Danny Luke, business manager at Quick Move Now. ‘Buyers are less likely to move forward with a purchase if the survey brings up surprises, and sellers are less willing to drop the price in a renegotiation, confident that they'll be able to find another buyer fairly easily,’ he added. The firm looked at the reasoning behind the fall through rate and found that across the last six months some 22% of home sales that fell through did so as a result of the buyer changing their mind, 16% as a result of the buyer being refused lending, 13% due to slow sale progress and a further 13 % due to a higher offer coming in. Some 8.7% of the house sales that failed to reach completion did so after the buyer attempted to renegotiate, 6 % fell foul to issues that were highlighted during a survey, 5.8% failed to successfully complete due to a change in the buyer's circumstances, and a further 5.8% fell through due to a chain breakdown. It also found that 4% failed to complete because the buyer decided to buy a different property, 3% broke down due to lease issues and the remaining 3% failed to complete as a result of legal complications. Quick Move Now buys and sells hundreds of properties each year and the fall through statistics are calculated monthly, quarterly and using a six month average. Continue reading
UK govt announces changes to shake up house planning and get more homes built
A series of planning reforms announced today by the UK government aimed at boosting house building have been widely welcomed by the property and construction industries Under the changes planning permission will be granted automatically for homes on brownfield sites, even over ruling wishes of local authorities in England. But experts warned that councils will not like the move although they have been heavily criticised for not creating local plans and taking too long to make decisions. Ministers will also get powers to seize disused land which is suitable for houses and major housing projects are set to be fast tracked through the planning system. There will be penalties for local authorities that make 50% or fewer planning decisions on time in a bid to inject some speed into the planning process. The rules on extensions in London are to be relaxed in terms of building upwards to match neighbouring levels and the Mayors of London and Manchester are to get power over planning in their cities. The British Property Federation (BPF) said the changes have the potential to be an enormous boon to housing supply but it warned that some of the new measures will only work if the government addresses the severe shortage of funds within local authority planning departments. The BPF also urged the government not to over focus on providing new homes for sale and pointed out that there is also a need for more purpose built rental accommodation in order to combat the housing shortage and deliver a more balanced housing market. Melanie Leech, chief executive of the BPF, British Property Federation, called for a dialogue with both the public and private sectors on how to address the severe shortage of funds which is afflicting local planning departments. ‘The private sector will need to play a part in helping to address this funds shortage, and this needs to be explored fully if we want these new measures to work. We would also have liked to have seen some commitment to growing the purpose built rental sector, which has an important part to play in solving the housing crisis and creating a balanced housing market,’ she said. ‘We warmly welcome the government’s recognition of how a functioning and efficient planning system can contribute to the UK’s growth by creating not just new homes, but also the infrastructure that supports great places,’ she added. Leech explained that a lack of dynamism among local authorities on Local Plans should be addressed by the government being able to intervene. ‘Local Plans are fundamental to growth, and we are firm believers in a plan led system. There are still areas, however, without a Local Plan in place, and so we are pleased to see that government is taking steps to ensure that plans are delivered in a timely fashion,’ she said. ‘A number of recalcitrant local authorities have been dragging their feet and producing bloated local plans that are overly long and simply… Continue reading
