Pledges made by Conservatives, Labour and Lib Dems
This week saw three of the main political parties publish their election manifestos ahead of the general election in July.
On Monday the Liberal Democrats issued their manifesto, confirming a housebuilding target of 380,000 homes a year, building “the homes people desperately need with meaningful community engagement”, including ten new garden cities.
The Conservative manifesto followed on Tuesday, promising that stamp duty would be abolished for first-time buyers up to the value of £425,000, and the launch of a new Help to Buy scheme which would give first-time buyers an equity loan of up to 20% towards the cost of a new-build home.
Thursday saw the publication of Labour’s manifesto, in which the party pledged to reverse changes to the National Planning Policy Framework, reintroduce mandatory housing targets, and build 1.5 million new homes in the next five years.
New home planning permissions continue to fall
The latest Housing Pipeline Report from the Home Builders Federation (HBF) and Glenigan has revealed a continued fall in the number of planning permissions grated in the twelve months to March 2024.
The number of units approved during the first quarter of 2024 also fell by -15% against the previous three months, to 61,823 homes. This is also -12% lower than the first quarter of 2023.
The HBF said that these figures are “highlighting the need for ministers to work closely with the industry to fix the planning system, provide effective assistance to prospective first-time buyers and unblock the estimated 160,000 new homes still unnecessarily held up by a government quango’s nutrient neutrality rules”.
The report also found that the number of units achieving planning permission in the year ending Q1 2024 was 236,644 – the lowest 12-month total since Q3 2014, and a -13% drop year-on-year.
Reversing the trend will require immediate and drastic action to remove the significant barriers to housing delivery we face.
Stewart Baseley, Executive Chairman, Home Builders Federation
We need to see immediate action to reverse the damaging changes made in recent years to the planning system and to ensure local authorities have the capacity to deal effectively with permissions.
Crest Nicholson rejects Bellway offer and reports profit loss
Housebuilder Crest Nicholson published its latest results this week, revealing that the cost of legacy issues at four jobs completed by its now-closed Regeneration division has resulted in a pre-tax loss of £30.9m in the half year to April 2024.
Meanwhile, the firm has rejected two bids from rival developer Bellway, stating that the latest offer “significantly undervalued Crest Nicholson and its future standalone prospects and was not in the best interests of Crest Nicholson’s shareholders”.
The first bid was made in April, with a subsequent offer made at the start of May. Bellway now has until 11 July to announce a “firm intention” of an offer, or confirm that it will no longer pursue a bid.
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