Tag Archives: education
UK home builders facing a severe shortage of workers
It is not a lack of materials, sites or ability that is preventing house builders in the UK from meeting targets but a lack of workers, according to some of the country’s largest home firms. If 200,000 new homes are to be built by 2020, a target pledged by the government, recruitment in the industry would have to take a sharp upturn from current numbers, especially for the most highly skilled workers. ‘Whilst we as an industry are committed to the target of more affordable homes available to first time buyers, Weston Homes has had to really ramp up its recruitment in order to meet these targets,’ said Bob Weston, the firm’s chairman and chief executive. ‘We currently have a shortfall within the industry of skilled tradesmen, construction managers and fabricators, especially those with many years’ experience providing the quality we expect,’ he added. He pointed out that Weston Homes has recently sent 6,500 letters to local schools, attempting to attract more young people into apprenticeships and eventually the construction industry to meet the shortfall. In the last month Weston Homes has taken on 23 new recruits into its apprenticeship scheme, who join in to the around 20% of employees studying for NVQ’s, attending ILM management training or on sponsored day release courses. ‘It takes two years to train skilled workers and five years to train our best recruits to management level, though of course development lasts a lifetime. Finding someone with 20 plus years of experience is becoming increasingly rare and difficult,’ Weston said. ‘We have always been committed to getting more young people involved in the industry, and with these new affordable home targets we will need, as an industry, to open our doors to bright young apprentices,’ he added. Recent research from the Federation of Master Builders said that 66% of small and medium construction firms have had to turn down work because they don't have enough workers and the biggest shortages are for bricklayers and carpenters. The shortages all around the UK, with the east of England suffering from a short supply of plasterers, while the West Midlands is struggling to find scaffolders. Northern Ireland has the greatest need for general labourers. Firms said the main problem was difficulty in finding apprentices, and a lack of apprenticeships has held back potential new entrants to the jobs market with a belief that many are bowing to pressure from their parents to stay in full time education. ‘The lack of experienced multi skilled workers is a huge concern for my business, as it could affect our future growth plans. We urgently need tradespeople that are trained in more than one area, such as plumbing, tiling and joinery for bathroom installations but we just aren’t seeing the candidates come through,’ said Tony Passmore, chief executive of the Leeds based Passmore Group. The Home Builders Federation (HBF) agreed that recruiting and training people was now… Continue reading
Wealthy Chinese looking to invest more in London prime property
Chinese investors, particularly those from the mainland are set to become the biggest group of investors in London with a relaxation of the amount of money that can be moved overseas due to be implemented soon, it is claimed. The changes in the stock market may also play a key role as wealthy Chinese investors turn away from their domestic market to explore new investment opportunities overseas, says upmarket estate agent Harrods Estates. Typically Chinese spend up to £2 million on a new off plan development in London, however the firm believes this will change with buyers from China looking at investing from £2 million to £50 million in real estate. ‘There is a huge amount of wealth in China and although we have started to see investment in London property in the last five years, the focus has been on off plan new build developments ranging from £500,000 to £5 million,’ said Simon Barry, head of new residential developments at Harrods Estates. ‘This is just the beginning of a vast amount of wealth from China and we expect this will increase dramatically over the coming years, when Chinese billionaires will look to spend anything from £5 million to £50 million,’ he added. Over the past two decades, wealth generated by China’s rate of economic expansion has flowed into Hong Kong and Singapore through corporate investment, much of which has fuelled the demand for London property. Harrods Estates has seen investors from Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore, with mainland China still untapped due to an initial focus on the domestic property markets. This is now set to change as a handful of developers and estate agents explore the opportunity to reach out to mainland China, where there has not been direct to overseas property markets. ‘We expect to see more high level Chinese executives finding time to travel to London and other international centres, seeking out new markets and new opportunities outside of China,’ said Barry. He pointed out that at present there are capital controls in place restricting potential Chinese purchasers taking out US$50,000 per year, however a revised version of the Qualified Domestic Individual Investor programme (QQII 2) has recently been announced although it has yet to be implemented. ‘The programme will be open initially to anyone working in six major cities with assets in excess of circa US$160,000, and will allow them to export up to 50% by value of their net worth. For corporate investment the capital limit would rise significantly to US$1 Billion,’ he explained. He believes that China’s slowing economy and its recent stock market crash, which saw the Shanghai Composite Index lose 30% in value over a three week period in the middle of June and a further plummet in value in late July, will actually encourage investors to look at other opportunities. According to the firm one of the primary motivators for Chinese… Continue reading
Catchment areas of good schools in UK attracting higher property rent premium
Competition for school places in some of the UK’s best educational establishments is affecting the private rental market with more homes near them being rented to families, new research suggests. Some 28% of properties rented around schools with outstanding ratings from school inspectors OFSTED went to families with children, up from 26% in 2014 and 9% in 2008 In London competition for school places means that for the first time over half of properties rented around the best schools go to families with children, according to the latest quarterly lettings index from Countrywide plc. The firm suggests that while this is a product of the significant increase in competition for school places, the growing number of families living in the private rented sector means more of them move both for work and their children’s education. While the figures in London are most marked for schools rated outstanding, the pressure on school places in the capital means there has been uplift in families with children renting in the area surrounding most schools. Given it is the address from which the school application is made in January that the application is assessed against, the summer months are when most families think about moving. Over half of families with children in the private rented sector move during June, July, August or September in time for the forthcoming academic year. Households with children moving into the area close to an outstanding school don’t move far, an average of just half a mile. This confirms the fine margins involved getting into school catchment areas. This distance is considerably shorter than the three miles the average households in the private rented sector moves, the report explains. As with house prices, tenants pay a premium to live close to a high performing school. Given tenants move more often than home owners, this premium tends to be smaller. In 2015 the average tenant living within a kilometre of a school rated outstanding paid 14% more than someone living more than a kilometre away. While the premium attached to one and two bedroom flats is almost negligible, tenants living in three or four bedroom houses pay an average of 16% more. Where catchment areas are particularly tightly defined, a house on one side of the road can be let for 15% to 20% more than an identical house on the other side. ‘There are 1.6 million families with children living in the private rented sector, 20% more than last year, which means school catchment areas are becoming increasingly relevant to the rental market,’ said David Fell, research analyst at Countrywide. ‘Many of these families are choosing to rent close to the school gates and in some cases parents are taking advantage of the flexibility of renting to move from the fringes of their preferred school’s catchment area to ensure their child’s entry,’ he pointed out. ‘The flexibility of renting can… Continue reading
