Housing Secretary “not giving up” on pledge
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) this week announced an ambition to create a digitised home buying and selling process, using the opportunity to reconfirm the ambition to build 1.5m homes over the current term.
MHCLG announced a 12-week project to design and implement data rules for the property sector to allow easier information sharing between conveyancers, lenders and other parties.
Speaking on BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Angela Rayner said: “We are living in a digital age, the house buying process isn’t very digital, it’s very paper-led so what we want to try and do is work with the Land Registry to have more digitalised copies, including digital ID and signatories.”
Rayner also admitted that hitting 1.5m homes by the end of the parliament “was going to be really difficult” but added that she is “determined to meet the 1.5m homes target”.
Official figures show there were 221,070 net additions to England’s housing stock in 2023/24, a -6% reduction on the 234,290 achieved in 2022/23.
There are 160,000 children in temporary accommodation.
That costs us billions of pounds, but I’m determined that I will meet the 1.5 million homes target. So, we’re tracking where we’re up to. We don’t expect it to change overnight.
Angela Rayner, Housing Secretary
Meanwhile, Rayner pledged an extra £350m for social housing, in a boost for the Affordable Homes Programme of £300m alongside £50m for the Local Authority Housing Fund.
The cash injection could deliver more than 3,000 additional homes.
The Government has also said that it has received more than 100 proposals for its New Towns programme, “from almost every region in England”.
The MHCLG said in a policy paper that many of the submissions came from London, the South East, South West and East of England.
The news comes as latest official figures reveal a fall of -5.2% in new work during 2024. However, private housing saw orders surge by 24% in the last three months of the year, as developers who released the brakes on previously delayed projects in the autumn.
Nine in ten planning departments struggling to recruit staff
A survey of planning capacity by the MHCLG has found that 90% of planning departments are facing difficulties in recruiting staff.
The survey also highlighted problems with retention and skills gaps and noted the potential impact on planning reform.
Meanwhile, the Home Builders Federation (HBF) has called upon the Government to work with the construction industry to support skills if it is to build the homes the country needs.
As part of National Apprenticeship Week, which runs from 10-16 February, the HBF is urging ministers “to take a leadership role in shaping skills policies that are practical, industry-aligned, and easy to navigate”.
As reported in Housebuilder, the HBF said that while housebuilding had the workforce to deliver to current levels of output, it would need a 25% increase in recruitment – equal to 224,900 additional workers – to meet the government’s ambitious 1.5 million new homes target, reinforced by deputy prime minister last weekend.
Barratt Redrow leads developer trading updates
The first trading update from the newly-merged Barratt Redrow has revealed that the firm expects full-year profit to be at the upper end of expectations.
Driven by solid reservation activity since the start of January, the housebuilder has said that it aims to complete 22,000 homes in the medium term and deliver towards the top end of £506m to £588m this year.
Meanwhile, Gleeson has reported a “solid” half-year performance but reported a -50% drop in pre-tax profit and noted the impact of no land sales.
During the six months ending 31 December 2024, Gleeson Homes sold 801 homes and saw pre-tax profit halved to £3.6m.
And Bellway has enjoyed a rise in completions during its half year, completing 4,577 homes against the 4,092 completed in H1 2024.
The average selling price of the housebuilder’s homes was slightly up on 2024, reaching £310,600 against last year’s £309,278.
Latest NHBC data released this week also struck a positive note, with private new home registrations climbing 11% in 2024, recording a total of 68,987.
However, registrations in the affordable and rental sector dropped by -18% against 2023 to 35,245.
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The Future Homes Hub has launched its Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) Implementation Board, one year after mandatory BMG was introduced.
The board aims to assist cross-sector collaboration with industry leaders, key stakeholders and relevant government bodies “to implement BNG at scale successfully”.
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The government has confirmed a new, permanent mortgage guarantee scheme to “open the door to home ownership for more young families and hardworking renters”.
Under the initiative, the government has offered lenders the financial guarantees they require to provide 95% mortgages on homes worth up to £600,000, subject to standard affordability checks.
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The Home Builders Federation has called for common road adoption standards as conflicting approaches by local authorities “make it impossible to plan housing”.
The firm has published findings from Freedom of Information Act responses obtained from 70 highways authorities showing the cost per highway bond has increased by 700% since 2017.
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Latest figures from payroll services specialist Hudson Contract have revealed that the average weekly earnings for self-employed tradespeople reached £985 in January – an 8.6% increase than January 2024.
However, in line with typical seasonal patterns due to holidays and weather, January 2025 earnings were 7.5% lower than in December 2024.
Housing View 