Tag Archives: construction
UK govt to change planning rules to free land for new homes
Planning rules on brownfield sites in the UK are being removed to free up land for development with more homes being built for first time buyers, the government has announced. The housing budget is to be directed towards new low cost homes for sale for first time buyers and housing association tenants are to be given the right to buy, Chancellor George Osborne has confirmed. He also announced that the government will bring forward sales of land, buildings and other assets the government bought or built, raising up to £5 billion over the course of this Parliament with the funds from these sales being recycled to help fund new infrastructure projects. Osborne added that a new independent National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) is being created charged with offering unbiased analysis of the UK’s long term infrastructure needs. The NIC will begin work immediately with Lord Andrew Adonis as its first chairman. It is likely that up to 40 towns and cities in southern England could be doubled in size to deal with the country’s housing crisis as Lord Adonis has spoken about bold initiatives needed to deliver the huge number of new homes required. He is known to favour the idea of building a new generation of garden cities or garden extensions to existing towns. Indeed, in an article written just weeks before his appointment, he said central government should intervene to massively extend towns including Guildford, Norwich, Reading, Oxford and Stratford-upon-Avon. He is also known to back the idea of a new requirement on local authorities to use more of its public land for housing. His vision is likely to be bold and include central and local government leading development in partnership with the private and voluntary sectors. Melanie Leech, chief executive of the British Property Federation, welcomed the announcements. ‘In order to create places where people will live as well as work, we would hope to see discussion as to whether large scale housing schemes could be considered within significant infrastructure projects. This would enable the development industry to deliver a large number of homes, quickly,’ she said. Continue reading
Report reveals skills shortage and planning are holding back UK house building
A severe shortage of skilled workers in the house building industry and the current planning system are combing to hinder efforts to tackle the UK’s housing crisis, according to new research. The report, which surveyed those within the housing supply chain, from SME contractors to major national developers, found real concern among these businesses on the effect of the sector’s skills shortage not only on individual firms, but also on national house building rates and the UK economy as a whole. However the research from Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking did find some approval for measures announced in the Summer Budget designed to tackle the current housing shortage, for example, plans to grant automatic planning permission for building projects on disused industrial sites. While the pace of house building is generally acknowledged to be improving, there remains much discussion about how it can be accelerated to match demand. According to the report, there are a number of key issues preventing the effective tackling of the housing shortage, including slow planning decisions, public opposition to development and lack of skilled workers. Some 24% of respondents said that the skills shortage is the biggest broader challenge currently facing their business while 35% believe there is a lack of suitable candidates to fill existing and new jobs. House builders said the skills shortage is most acute among electricians and site managers with project managers, quantity surveyors and architects following closely behind, reflecting the supply chain wide nature of the problem. But house builders appear to be taking steps to redress the balance with 31% prioritising investment in recruiting apprentices in an effort to increase the pipeline of talent coming into the industry. When asked what one change house builders would advocate for the alleviation of the housing shortage some 23% said greater local authority support to promote and fund building projects, while the same figure sought additional government support. Existing government schemes such as Stamp Duty reform and the Help to Buy equity scheme were flagged by 73% and 63% respectively as having a positive impact on the housing crisis. And despite the challenges cited in the report, house builders seem to be optimistic about the future, with respondents giving an average score of seven out of 10 when asked to rate their confidence in the success of the UK house building industry in the future. The research also found that 87% of respondents want to create new jobs in the next 12 months, and if replicated across the industry, this could mean the creation of more than 100,000 new house building roles. As an indication of future house pricing the first index to be based exclusively on house builder feedback predicted house prices will reach £232,826 by 2020, up 17% from £198,883 today. Some 84% said that rising house price increases were not affecting demand for new homes, and… Continue reading
Not enough new homes are being built in many metro areas in the US
Despite positive improvements in the labour market in recent years, new home construction is currently insufficient in a majority of metro areas in the United States, new research has found. The situation is contributing to persistent housing shortages and unhealthy price growth in many markets, according to the report from the National Association of Realtors. NAR measured the volume of new home construction relative to the number of newly employed workers in 146 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) throughout the US to determine whether home building has kept up with the steadily improving pace of job growth in the past three years. The findings reveal that home building activity for all housing types is underperforming in roughly two thirds of measured metro areas and NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said that low inventory has been a prevailing headwind to the housing market in recent years. 'In addition to slow housing turnover and the diminishing supply of distressed properties, lagging new home construction, especially single family, has kept available inventory far below balanced levels,' Yun explained. 'Our research shows that even as the labour market began to strengthen, home building failed to keep up and is now contributing to the stronger price appreciation and eroding affordability currently seen throughout the US,' he added. The study examined job creation in 146 metro areas from 2012 to 2014 relative to single family and multi-family housing starts over the same period. Historically, the average ratio for the annual change in total workers to total permits is 1.2 for all housing types and 1.6 for single family homes. The research found that through 2014 some 63% of measured markets had a ratio above 1.2 and 72 percent had a ratio above 1.6, which indicates inadequate new construction. According to Yun, with jobs now being added at a more robust pace in several metro areas, the disparity between housing starts and employment is widening. In 2014 alone, the average ratio of single family permits to employment jumped to 3.7, while the ratio for total permits increased 50 percent to 2.4. 'Affordability issues for buying and renting because of low supply are already well known in many of the country’s largest metro areas, including San Francisco, San Diego and New York. Additionally, our study found that limited construction is a widespread issue in metro areas of all sizes,' Yun pointed out. The markets with the largest disparity of jobs versus home construction, single family, and currently facing supply shortages are San Jose, California, at 22.6, San Francisco at 22.4, San Diego and New York, both at 13.9 and Miami at 11.1. Yun explained that while construction is limited in some markets such as Trenton–Ewing in New Jersey and Rockford, Illinois, they aren’t facing inventory shortages despite having high ratios because their job gains are more moderate. Single family housing starts are seen as nearly adequate to local job growth at a ratio of 1.6 in Jackson, Mississippi, Colorado Springs, Chattanooga in Tennessee, Amarillo, Texas, and St. Louis. Looking ahead, Yun said that there’s… Continue reading
