Tag Archives: construction
Plans for over 400,000 new homes in London announced
The UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne has set out plans to help London meet its need for over 400,000 homes, including the establishment of a London Land Commission. The new commission, based at the Greater London Authority, will be tasked with identifying public sector brownfield land that is no longer needed in London, to help ensure that all of the capital’s brownfield sites are developed by 2025, and help meet its target of over 400,000 new homes by 2025. The Land Commission’s work will pave the way for hundreds of thousands of new homes in the capital on brownfield and public sector land and the Chancellor and the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, also confirmed the creation of nine new Housing Zones on brownfield land. The Housing Zones will be in Greenwich, Bexley, Barking and Dagenham, Wandsworth, Harrow, Hounslow, Lewisham, Ealing and Haringey and will have access to funding set aside to deliver affordable housing. Osborne explained that the Housing Zones are a new approach being used by the government, to get new homes built quickly and this investment will support and accelerate the construction of up to 30,000 new homes, of which around a third will be affordable homes. ‘We face massive demographic pressures in our city and it is absolutely vital that we build the high quality stock of housing we need to cope. We will not solve the problem without massively expanding the supply of housing and the plans confirmed today will help do that, which is fantastic for our city,’ said Johnson. Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said that the measures for London will help regenerate brownfield land, provide more homes and protect the Green Belt around the city. Continue reading
New home building market in Australia gets boost
Loans to both investors and owner occupiers for house building in Australia increased at the end of 2014, pointing to ongoing strength in new home building in 2015. In December 2014, the number of loans to owner occupiers for the construction of dwellings edged higher by 0.8% and over the December 2014 quarter, these loans increased by 1.1% to a level 9.8% higher than in the December 2013 quarter. The data published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics also show that lending to owner occupiers purchasing newly constructed homes fell by 1.8% during December, and down 4% over the quarter. The value of lending to investors for the construction of new housing jumped by 44.2% during the month of December 2014 and over the quarter the value of lending increased by 16%. ‘Housing construction loans, in both the owner occupier and investor segments of the market, finished 2014 on a strong note. This provides a very positive signal for activity in the residential construction sector in 2015,’ said Housing Industry Association economist, Diwa Hopkins. ‘Investors are likely to continue playing a key role in adding to the stock of new housing in 2015. The owner occupier side of the market, however, appears to be losing some momentum,’ she explained. ‘While overall owner occupier lending levels remain strong, some signs have emerged that the growth typical of 2013 and much of 2014 may now be moderating,’ she added. The housing finance release follows substantial upward revisions by the ABS to the level of activity among first time buyers and shows that their participation in the market is much higher than earlier thought. In 2014, lending to first time buyers accounted for around 15% of the total, higher than a decade ago. ‘The key to housing affordability for first home buyers and trade up buyers alike is a supply of dwellings commensurate to the needs of a growing population. The strong performance of the residential construction sector in 2014 has provided vital assistance in this regard,’ Hopkins pointed out. A regional breakdown of total number owner occupier loans for new housing in December 2014 compared with the same month in 2013 shows the strongest increase occurred in Tasmania with growth of 74.2%. The Northern Territory saw growth of11.8%, Western Australia was up 11.1%, the Australian Capital Territory up 5.9%, New South Wales up 2.9%, Queensland up 2.8% and South Australia up 0.3%. Victoria was the only state to see a fall at 1.9%. Meanwhile, the latest result for the HIA New Home Sales Report, a survey of Australia’s largest volume builders, highlights a second consecutive rise for sales in the month of November 2014. ‘Renewed upward momentum in the multi-unit segment drove growth in overall new home sales in late 2014, a trend unlikely to be reversed when the December result comes through,’ said HIA chief economist Harley Dale. Total seasonally adjusted new home sales increased by 2.2%… Continue reading
UK housing minister announces £3.5 billion for new rental homes across the country
The UK’s housing minister has signed a new agreement to unlock £3.5 billion in funding to build new homes specifically for renting across the country. Brandon Lewis said that the deal with PRS Operations Limited, a subsidiary of Venn Partners LLP, is important to the government’s wider efforts to create a bigger, better private rented sector. The government’s private rented sector housing guarantee scheme enables landlords of new rented homes to use a government guarantee to secure long term financing. Lewis explained that this investment will increase the supply of purpose built, professionally managed private rental homes giving tenants more choice of better quality homes. Initially, up to £3.5 billion in government backed loans will be made available to landlords looking to invest at least £10 million for new homes available for private rent with the option to increase this to £6.5 billion in future. Venn Partners has created PRS Operations Ltd, a new organisation that will secure institutional investment in building homes specifically for private rent. This new organisation will work to arrange up to £3.5 billion of funding and then offer a series of smaller loans to eligible landlords looking to move into this expanding market. ‘House building is an important part of the government’s long term economic plan. The deal with Venn Partners to provide the guarantees scheme is part of a package of investment measures to help generate growth in the rented sector, while ensuring value for money for the tax payer,’ said Lewis. Other measures include a £3.5 billion affordable housing guarantees scheme, which has already helped provide over £1 billion in investment to provide over 9,000 new affordable homes, on some of the cheapest terms in the sector’s history The £1 billion Build to Rent Fund, which is on track to provide up to 10,000 newly built homes specifically for private rent across the country and the Private Rented Sector Taskforce, which has identified aspirations to invest over £10 billion of equity in the private rented sector. ‘We’ve pulled out all the stops to get the country building since 2010, including by creating a bigger better private rented sector. This is an exciting and important move that will help strengthen the private rented sector so that it meets the needs of tenants well into the future,’ Lewis explained. According to Danny Alexander, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, unlocking £3.5 billion of funding for the private rented sector will ensure that the government delivers the homes that people across the country need. ‘Housing starts are now at a six year high thanks to this government’s focus on building more homes. Investment in housing is essential for the future of an economy. That’s why for the first time in a generation, this government plans to directly commission homes, as well increasing investment in affordable housing to ensure the delivery of 275,000 affordable homes over the next five years. These guarantees will help to deliver more homes in communities across Britain,’ he added. Attracting significant institutional investment to the… Continue reading
