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Property news round-up
£510 million cash incentive for housing market
Councils will receive a share of new £510 million grant to speed up the delivery of new housing and ensure that suitable land is available to support the long-term housing market, housing and planning minister Caroline Flint has announced.
The Housing and Planning Delivery Grant will provide a direct incentive for councils to ensure that new homes are built where they are needed.
It is an additional top up to mainstream funding and councils can choose how to spend it locally.
This will also help the house-building industry, giving them greater certainty that suitable land will be available for development over future years, particularly as the housing market recovers from current economic challenges.
A lack of suitable development land is often cited as the reason for blockage in the delivery of new homes. Councils are now required to identify at least five years’ worth of suitable sites ready for housing, and a further 10 years’ worth for future development.
While many councils are delivering good-quality homes quickly, some are failing to properly identify land for the homes their communities need. This new incentive will ensure that all councils are taking action now
Caroline Flint also announced that the government plan to bring forward proposals for an additional element to incentivise the delivery of affordable housing from 2010/11, the third year of the grant.
She will also keep the allocations under review, to ensure they continue to support a stronger long- term housing market in every area of the country.
Caroline Flint said: “We are determined to continue to do everything possible to promote long-term stability and fairness in the housing market.
"The long-term need to provide more homes has not gone away. We have a growing and ageing population and will only see worsening affordability unless we increase housing supply,” Ms Flint went on to say.
This grant will be awarded to those councils, which speed up delivery, deliver against their housing plans to meet local needs, and meet agreed development timetables to speed up new housing.
The timetables will commit councils to set out clear and ambitious plans on the number and type of homes needed in a local area, including family homes; and identify banks of deliverable land suitable for new homes.
Details of provisional allocations announced today for each eligible local authority are available at http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/housing/xls/grantprovisionalallocations.
Buy without selling
A UK finance provider has launched a new product to help thaw the frozen property market by allowing people to purchase property without having to sell.
Market Maker, devised by Bridging Finance Limited, is a response to current market conditions that have seen people with high levels of equity in their own property keen to take advantage of falling property prices and acquire good quality assets at the right price.
This is highlighted in figures recently released by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) revealing there are 25 per cent more properties on the market than six months ago; this means there are one million sellers to every 150,000 buyers.
Chris Baguley, managing director of Bridging Finance Limited, said: “We've produced a product that gives people the opportunity to take advantage of the drop in house prices without having to sell their own property.
“Market Maker is a short term loan that is perfect for clients with strong levels of equity or reserves who want to maximise opportunities in the current housing market.
“It's the obvious product for good quality clients to secure property assets, maybe as a one-off transaction, or as part of a larger property portfolio,” Mr Baguley went on to say.
For further information about the Market Maker call 0845 337 5800 or visit www.bridgingfinance.co.uk.
Government u-turn on empty homes
The Empty Homes Agency (EHA) has reacted with dismay to the government's announcement last week that it will not, after all, reward councils for taking action to bring empty property back into use.
The EHA is highly critical of the decision to reward councils for allowing new housing building but not bringing empty homes into use. David Ireland, EHA chief executive, said: “Given the government's continued obsession with new house building this is depressingly predictable - but that doesn't make it any less disappointing.
“In October last year the government announced the proposals by describing the purpose of the grant was" to deliver more affordable housing by bringing empty homes back into use and giving more cash to communities who are building more homes.
“Fifty seven per cent of responses to the government’s consultation supported that, and only 17 per cent were against. However, the government decided to just reward councils for giving planning permission for new housing developments instead.
“Empty properties blight communities and represent a huge waste of potential homes. By the government's own figures, the problem is increasing at an alarming rate, yet they have turned their back on an important way they could have helped.
"In a market where thousands of newly built homes are being left empty, encouraging more speculative housing development at the expense of making use of empty property seems completely out of step with what the country needs,” Mr Ireland went on to say.
New revolution for house building
A scheme to deliver more affordable homes for young families and first-time buyers is being set out today by communities minister Iain Wright.
Under a new radical amendment to the Housing and Regeneration Bill being debated in Parliament this week, new Community Land Trusts (CLT) will be able to cut the cost of getting on the housing ladder as buyers will only pay for the building, not the land, of a property.
A CLT is an independent trust, which owns or controls the land and facilities, but not the property, for the benefit of the community.
The CLT puts communities in the centre stage in agreeing what land should be developed for, including building more affordable homes, as local residents and businesses participate in and take responsibility for planning and delivering development schemes.
Iain Wright said: “We have to constantly look at new ways to meet the long-term demand for more homes. Community Land Trusts puts local communities at the centre stage of delivering the homes our first-time buyers and young families desperately need.
"They provide an opportunity to give people the practical tools to solve the problem of affordable housing in a way that is right for the community.
“The new measure is part of the next steps in the government's series of further measures and reforms designed to help alleviate the current challenges in the housing market and to support the vital delivery of more homes over the long-term.
“It is also a big feature of the government's drive to deliver a fundamental shift in power, influence and responsibility into the hands of communities and citizens,” Mr Wright went on to say.
Energy efficiency major factor when renting
Nearly nine out of ten (85 per cent) of private tenants are concerned over increases in domestic energy costs, while 42 per cent claim to be very concerned, according to new research on current attitudes to energy efficiency, conducted by the Energy Efficiency Partnership for Homes (EEPH).
Nine per cent of respondents have already taken action into their own hands and decided to go as far as to change properties to find somewhere more energy efficient to rent.
When tenants were asked about the perceived value of Energy Performance Certificates (EPC), nearly nine out of ten said that the EPC would be useful when looking for somewhere to rent and nearly a third said it would be very useful. Nine out of every ten private tenants said the EPC could have an impact on their choice of property.
A quarter would actually use it to narrow down properties whilst a further quarter would narrow down properties on other factors but then use the EPC to help make their final decision, (the remaining 40 per cent would use it to decide between two properties that had equal appeal to them based on other attributes).
Mark Brown, partnership director of EEPH, said: “With the upcoming introduction of mandatory EPCs for all rented properties this October, it was important for us to investigate the current attitudes of private sector tenants in England and Wales.
“We all know that utility bills are increasing but this research shows the real impact this is now having on this sector, people are actually making decisions based on the need to reduce their outgoings and energy efficiency is clearly a significant factor,” Mr Brown went on to say.
Underlining the growing importance of energy efficiency in the tenant’s search for a property, the research showed that when it came to choosing a rental property, estimated energy bills were considered a major factor, rated just behind key aspects such as location, rental cost and type of property.
As a member of the Energy Efficiency Partnership for Homes Group, the National Approved Letting Scheme (NALS) is keen to help tenants improve their efficiency.
Caroline Pickering, chair of NALS, says: “As this research shows – the certificate could prove to be incredibly useful in the decision making process as an EPC provides the tenant with a clear indication of the energy efficiency of their accommodation which can only be a selling point for prospective tenants. It is a win-win situation for tenants, landlords and lettings agents.”
“To help people reduce the amount of energy they use we have developed a free leaflet which details some simple yet effective tips on ways to reduce your energy consumption it includes measures such as replacing boilers over 15 years old to increase efficiency, and increasing heat retention by fitting a hot water tank jacket and installing double glazing,” Ms Pickering went on to say.
For information on EPCs visit www.energysavingtrust.org.uk or call the EPC Helpline on 0845 365 2468.
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