Government should work with other bodies to solve the housing crisis, says LSE
The London School of Economics (LSE) is one of three organisations who called for meaningful housing policy reform this week, in a bid to unlock the ongoing crisis.
In a report titled A Road Map to a Coherent Housing Policy, commissioned by the Family Building Society, the LSE urged politicians, Government departments and the Bank of England to work together.
The road map suggests several initiatives, including a waiving of Stamp Duty for the over 65s to encourage them to downsize, and a review of current Green Belt boundaries.
There has to be greater coherence, consistency and resilience in housing policy which is why we need a Minister of Housing as one of the great offices of state – not a repeat of the shambles of the last 25 years.
Mark Bogard, Chief Executive, Family Building Society
Meanwhile, the National Housing Federation (NHF) has published their own report, Let’s fix the housing crisis: Delivering a long-term plan for housing, which details how they believe a six-point plan could be implemented by the next Government.
The plan includes strategies to end child homelessness, halve overcrowding and reform funding rules to meet the 90,000 new social homes needed each year.
Finally, the Housing Forum – a cross-sector, industry-wide organisation that represents the housing supply chain – published their Manifesto for Housing, which called for a long-term strategy with upfront spending to deliver three key objectives: increasing housing supply, improving quality, safety and sustainability, and ensuring affordable housing and choice for all.
The calls for change come as biodiversity net gain legislation looks set to be delayed again, with the rule now postponed a month from January to February.
Construction output down in November
Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics have revealed that construction output in Great Britain fell by -0.6% in the three months to November 2023, driven by a -3.6% decrease in new work.
Private new housing fell by -3.9% in the month, with adverse weather and strong winds being blamed for delays in planned work.
Developers post strong results, but Stewart Milne enters administration
Persimmon was the first of three volume developers to post a solid set of results this week, reporting a strong final quarter of 2023.
In a trading update, the firm reported it had sold 9,922 homes in the full year; above previous forecasts but -33% below the 14,868 units built in 2022.
Persimmon performed well in challenging market conditions, delivering completions ahead of expectations in 2023 alongside enhanced quality metrics of our already five-star homes.
Dean Finch, Group Chief Executive, Persimmon
A day later Taylor Wimpey issued a trading update ahead of its full year results, reporting that it expected operating profit to be at the higher end of expectations.
CEO Jennie Daly warned of an “uncertain” short-term outlook, but forecasted an anticipated group operating profit of around £470m (2022: £923.4m).
Despite the difficult market conditions throughout the year, we maintained a sharp operational focus and delivered a good performance.
Jennie Daly, Chief Executive Officer, Taylor Wimpey
Finally, Vistry Group announced a trading update for the year ended 31 December 2023, anticipating profits in line with the previous year’s total of £418.4m – an improvement on its October forecast of £410m.
Total completions fell by -5.4% to 16,124 units, but the firm highlighted the “resilience” of its partnerships model and pointed out that this was “significantly” better than other developers.
Looking ahead, working with our highly valued partners we are committed to increasing the delivery of much needed homes across the country, and in the fourth quarter have continued to secure exciting new developments that reflect our high return, asset-light partnerships model.
Greg Fitzgerald, Chief Executive, Vistry Group
However, this week saw Scottish housebuilder Stewart Milne group go into administration, with the loss of 217 jobs. The firm was previously put up for sale in April 2022, but two bids were rejected by the company’s bank.
And modular firm Modulous, which was established in 2018, also ran out of funds, having failed to secure the capital required to keep it going.
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