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15th September 2017
In her London Assembly planning committee report, Designed, Sealed, Delivered, the capital’s planning chair Nicky Gavron has said that factory-built homes and smart building technology could be the answer to the London housing crisis. Ms Gavron says that homes built in this manner go up 60% quicker than traditional homes and produce 80% less waste, and calls on the mayor to commit public land in support of the move towards constructing these kinds of homes.
Evening Standard (08/09/2017)
15th September 2017
Data from the ONS shows that house prices grew 1.1% between June and July, taking the UK average to £226,185 – up £11,000 on July 2016. The annual rate of growth matched the 5.1% seen in June, meaning year-on-year growth has remained at around 5% through 2017. England saw house prices climb by 5.4% in 12 months, hitting an average of £243,000, while Wales saw 3.1% growth, taking the typical value to £151,000. In Scotland, the average price increased by 4.8% to reach £149,000, while Northern Ireland saw a 4.4% increase deliver a £129,000 average. The slowest annual growth was in London, at 2.8%.
The Daily Telegraph (12/09/2017)
8th September 2017
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has set out plans for a new £250m fund to buy land in London to build more affordable homes. The money raised from selling the land on to home-builders and developers would then be put back into the pot to fund further purchases. He would recruit technical "deal-making" experts for his Homes for Londoners team to help identify and prepare new sites. Mr Khan also promised to "bring together" private tenants and landlords to develop a new "London model" for renting. Mr Khan has called on the Chancellor to grant him the power to raise council tax on empty mansions and control over the capital’s £3.4bn stamp duty income. In a letter to the government, Mr Khan argues that such a move could help fund the building of affordable homes and other housing measures. However, Andrew Boff, the Conservative deputy chair of the London assembly’s housing committee, said the cash call was “a distraction from the fact that he has built so few homes”.
Evening Standard (06/09/2017) Evening Standard (04/09/2017)
8th September 2017
The number of homes on the market has fallen to its lowest July figure since records began in 2002. The National Association of Estate Agents said the number of homes advertised per estate agent branch had fallen to 35 in July, from 30 in June. The number of people looking for a home fell 10% to 347 in the same period. The number of homes sold above asking price also fell to just 3%, the NAEA said, while the number of homes sold below asking price rose to 80%. The proportion of sales made to first-time buyers fell to 23%, the lowest level since last September. “It is natural for the market to dip in the summer and then recover," said Mark Hayward, the NAEA's chief executive.
City AM (30/08/2017)
8th September 2017
August house prices were up 1.1% on July, according to the Halifax, suggesting that the housing market is bouncing back from the Brexit vote. The annual increase was estimated to be 2.6%, while prices had risen by 0.1% in the past three months compared with the previous quarter. The average house price hit £222,293 in August, up from £219,293 in July. Activity was 10% higher than during the same period last year, with 104,760 homes sold between June and July. Halifax managing director Russell Galley noted that “buoyancy may be returning” to the housing market.
The Times (07/09/2017)
8th September 2017
Architects must reclaim leadership of housebuilding after decades of being sidelined through complex contracts such as the one used for Grenfell Tower, the profession's new leader has warned. Ben Derbyshire, president of the Royal Institute of British Architects, said that without reform, the continued use of "design and build" contracts threatens the robustness of buildings and risks more defects. "This is not a precious issue about aesthetic quality, it is about environmental performance, care and attention to detail,” Mr Derbyshire said.
The Guardian (04/09/2017)