Tag Archives: construction
Call for Build to Rent in the UK to be expanded and include more affordable homes
Build to Rent development in London is over double that in the rest of the UK, with a new manifesto calling for more affordable homes to be included in such schemes. There are over 14,276 units in planning, completed or under construction in London compared to 7,112 in the rest of the country, according to the new data from the British Property Federation. They also show that there are at least 3,404 completed units in London, compared to 240 in the rest of the UK. The organisation has published a new manifesto for the Build to Rent sector, in which it urges government to follow the lead of the Greater London Authority (GLA), and change national planning policy to stress that the appropriate affordable housing on new Build to Rent developments should be discounted market rent. It says that this helps development viability, but also allows the investor to manage the ‘affordable’ and ‘market rented’ elements as one, in a tenure blind manner. The BPF has long championed the role that Build to Rent has to play in expanding housing delivery, attracting long term investment that has the potential to significantly boost housing supply. Recent research has shown that Build to Rent can deliver homes at 2.5 times the speed of developments for sale, and that there is £10 billion of firm commitments and as much as £30 billion that the sector has ready to invest this Parliament. The £10 billion of investment identified for Build to Rent would create around £28 billion of wider economic benefit. ‘It has felt for a long time that Build to Rent has been on the cusp of becoming a sector in its own right. Today, we are proud to show that the sector has really taken off, and it is great to see how many fantastic projects are either underway or completed, and that residents have quality rented homes,’ said Melanie Leech, chief executive of the British Property Federation. ‘There is more that can be done to encourage the sector to grow, however. The GLA has paved the way for Build to Rent, introducing both ambitious targets and supplementary planning guidance, and the map launched today shows that this has really paid off,’ she explained. ‘Government has everything to gain from encouraging this sector, which will attract significant institutional investment into UK housing supply, deliver new homes quickly, and drive up standards in the private rented sector, and we hope to see it continue to support it,’ she added. Andrew Stanford, residential fund manager at LaSalle Investment Management and chairman of the BPF’s Build to Rent Committee said that the momentum behind Build to Rent continues and it is moving firmly beyond theory and into reality. ‘With continued support from both national and local government this progress can continue. The growing number of long-term institutional investors in the sector will then find a suitable home for their capital, ensuring that housing supply and tenant choice… Continue reading
Lack of resources in councils holding up major planning applications
Major new planning applications in English cities are taking well over six months to determine due to a lack of resources, new research suggests. Both developers and local authorities have identified a lack of resource within planning departments as a key barrier to development. The majority of developers believe higher planning fees might be part of a potential solution, helping local authorities shorten waiting times and improve performance. The average submission to determination time for a major planning application is 32 weeks across London, Greater Manchester and Bristol and the surrounding area, over double the government target of 13 weeks. In addition to this, and despite a worsening housing crisis, the overall volume of major applications determined in London fell by 26%, according to the fourth Annual Planning Survey from the British Property Federation and GL Hearn, part of Capita plc. Both public and private sector respondents to the survey expressed concern with the lack of resources available to local planning authorities. Some 55% of local authorities say under resourcing is a significant challenge and 50% believe the planning system is not operating as well as it was in 2010. Also a significant 75% of applicants are dissatisfied with the length of time a planning application takes, up from 71% last year. The survey found that 65% of applicants would be happy to pay more if it would shorten determination times. The details of the research shows that in London, the average submission to determination time is 34 weeks, some six weeks longer than last year’s study but a modest improvement from 2011/2012 when it stood at 37 weeks. The average submission to determination time is 27 weeks in both Greater Manchester, Bristol and the surrounding area. The volume of major planning applications determined has fallen by 26% in London, increased by 19% in Manchester, and stayed the same in Bristol and the surrounding area. In line with diminishing land opportunities in the capital, densification is a more prevalent priority for applicants in London at 47% compared to applicants in the North West at 14%. ‘In order to get Britain building again, we need to get Britain planning. Development activity is critical for our economy, not least in order to tackle the urgent housing crisis. This year’s Annual Planning Survey shows that the planning system needs investment and that requires action across the board,’ said Shaun Andrews, GL Hearn’s head of investor and developer planning. ‘We need to ensure that planning authorities have the right people with the right skills and powers in place to drive forward a growth agenda and that the system is able to release the right resources when it’s needed. For their part, developers need to speak with a single voice and make it clear what levels of service they need and how much they are prepared to pay for it,’ he pointed out. ‘There is… Continue reading
Australian capital city rents see slowest annual growth ever
Weekly rental rates in Australian capital cities were unchanged in September but in the last three months have risen at their slowest annual pace ever. Indeed, the latest CoreLogic RP data report shows that the annual pace of rental growth across all capital cities is at a new record low of 0.5% in the year to September. Despite recording the strongest growth, Melbourne rents rose just 2.1% over the year and rents have fallen over the year in Perth and Darwin. They have increased by just 0.3% over the first three quarter of the year. Overall the combined capital city rental rates are recorded at $487 per week for houses and $462 per week for apartment units and the firm says that it is anticipated that the rate of rental growth will continue to slow over the coming months due to increased supply of housing and rental stock and slower migration rates. The report points to an ongoing softening of rental growth and explains that the construction boom across the capital cities coupled with slowing population growth, low mortgage rates and the heightened level of activity from investors are the major contributing factors to the slowing rental growth. Three of the cities which have seen the largest growth in new housing supply and investor activity over recent years; Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, have continued to record rental rises over the past year however, each city is seeing a slowing in the pace of rental growth. ‘It is clear that the increase in investment stock is providing landlords with little scope to lift rental rates while the low mortgage rate environment provides little incentive to push yields higher,’ the report says. Looking across the individual capital cities, over the past year, Sydney and Melbourne have recorded the greatest increases in weekly rents however, their rates of growth have slowed relative to a year ago. Over the past month, weekly rents have moved lower across every capital city except Sydney where they were unchanged and in Melbourne and Hobart where they rose. Continue reading
