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COMMENT
covid-19 woN’t
BriNg New housiNg
deliverY to A hAlt
C 20.7
e ministry of housing, communities & local government announced that
B the
government is boosting its land release Fund (lrF) as well as the one public estate
(ope) programme which includes £30m to help release excess land for housing.
he LRF is set to provide
opportunity to develop smaller
sites and SME builders, will
provide Local Authorities the
opportunity to bid for a share of
a £20m pot for remediation
works and infrastructure. The OPE
programme will provide the remaining
£10m, supporting initial stages of
development.
It’s widely known that the ambitious
government aim to provide 300,000 new
homes a year in the UK has never been
achieved. The Ministry of Housing,
Communities and Local Government
(MHCLG) reported a total of 173,660 new
homes were built during the 12 month
period up until June 2019, an 8% increase
from the previous year and 30 year high,
but still not much over half of the target.
With the impact of Covid-19 this year,
it was feared that progress in the industry
may have ground to a halt, however, this
has not necessarily been the case. Many
national and regional housebuilders,
alongside local authorities and housing
associations are maintaining a healthy
pipeline and strategy to deliver much
needed housing for our local
communities.
The summer months are always placid
within this industry, however, in 2020
activity increased and by Q3 returned to
pre-Covid levels encouraging a positive
market sentiment. Throughout Q3, land
t
ISSUE 10 : AUTUMN 2020
values fell marginally at 0.1% in the
greeneld market and 0.3% in the urban
market. Sites continue to come to market,
increasing supply after the initial market
freeze earlier in the year.
In regards to house prices, in Q3 2020
there was a rise of 5% in September 2020,
compared with the year previous
according to Nationwide. Following on
from a quiet Q2 2020, the UK housing
market saw a huge increase in demand
with Zoopla reporting the number of sales
agreed in August 2020 were 76% above
their ve-year average. In Q4 2020, more
people are working from home and we
are experiencing more people looking to
move to a larger home with more oce
space and a larger garden.
In the development market,
construction activity has now returned
and housebuilders, like most businesses in
the property sector, are extremely busy
and we have seen an inux in demand for
residential sites.
Major housebuilders continue to
source sites suitable for 100-150 units due
to condence in a robust recovery in
sales– as well as the need to build an
appropriate pipeline to meet future
demand. Our local SMEs continue to
acquire sites with appropriate space for
under 50 units. We have experienced
rst-hand the enthusiasm which local
housebuilders have for creating quality
homes in the North East, working
alongside many of our clients from initial
land acquisition stages to property sales
and completion. Referred to as our ‘eld
to nish approach’, our service provides
an ecient and eective process for our
clients.
In addition, housing associations also
have a key role to play in using their own
resources, including funds and land, in
order to increase modern methods of
construction (MMC) and subsequent
housing delivery. Housing associations are
becoming increasingly proactive in the
land market, providing the ability to fully
project manage the process and retain
control.
The urgent need to provide
government homes is backed up by recent
data outlining that despite there being
approximately 1,000,000 families waiting
to be housed in the UK, only 57,485
aordable homes were delivered in
England in 2018 – 2019. To combat this
issue and to speed up delivery, MMC is
being encouraged with housing
associations looking to take part in the
Aordable Housing Programme – with at
least 25% to be constructed in this way.
Our experts in land,
development and new homes
are on hand to support and
advise on 0191 232 8080.
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