Taylor Scott International News
There were 23.5 million homes in England at the end of March 2015, an increase of 171,000 dwellings or just 0.73% on the same point the previous year, according to official figures. Some 14.7 million were owner occupied, 4.7 million rented in the private sector and four million social and affordable rented homes, the data from the Department for Communities and Local Government shows. The figures could be regarded as a disappointment at a time when the UK government has highlighted a number of flagship policies aimed at building more homes. But an increase of 171,000 in a year is well below targets set by the government. Between March 2014 and March 2015, the private rented stock increased by 125,000 and the owner occupied stock increased by 37,000. The social and affordable rented stock increased by 19,000 and the other public sector stock decreased by 9,000. There were 600,179 empty homes in England on 05 October 2015, a decrease of 9,944 or 1.6% from October 2014 while long term empty homes numbered 203,596 on 05 October 2015, a fall of 2,225 or 1.1% from October 2014. Stephen Wasserman, director of West One Loans, pointed out that the government pledges do not seem to be having much of an impact on the number of homes in the country. ‘Despite the Government’s pledge to address England’s housing shortage by committing to a number of large-scale projects including building starter homes, these policies aren’t improving the housing situation here and now,’ he pointed out. ‘These disappointing DCLG statistics represent the current shortage of places to live in England which is why we are seeing hikes in house prices and rising rents. While the number of dwellings has increased by 0.73% year on year, it’s important to remember we have a growing population which overshadows this progress,’ he said. ‘If we are going this fix this worsening problem, more will need to be done to bring empty homes back into circulation. Banks often won’t lend against these properties due to their state of disrepair, so developers should consider short term finance as a way to fund the renovation of these potential homes. Bringing these properties back into the housing supply would be a major step in conquering the crisis,’ he added. However, Housing and Planning Minister Brandon Lewis said that the government has got the country building again and pointed out that the number of new homes being built is up by a quarter in the last year alone, the highest annual percentage increase in net additional homes for 28 years. ‘We are turning around the housing market and making sure the best use is made of all housing including empty homes. We are very clear that a house should be a home which is why we have taken action to stop homes being bought up and left as an empty investment,’ he explained. ‘And we’ve taking forward the boldest ambition for housing in… Taylor Scott International
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