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Skills crisis threatens ambitious UK home building programme
A growing skills crisis in the UK building industry threatens the Prime Minister’s ambition to increase home ownership and will undermine wider economic growth, it is claimed. The Prime Minister stated last week that he wants his legacy to be defined by increasing home ownership, but this won’t be possible without an ample supply of skilled construction workers, according to the Federation of Master Builders (FMB). The organisation’s latest survey covering the third quarter of 2015 suggests that a skills time bomb is in danger of exploding with 60% of small construction firms struggling to hire bricklayers, up from 49%three months ago. The research also shows that 54% of firms are struggling to hire carpenters and joiners, up from 47% in the previous quarter. ‘If the skilled labour isn’t available, the Government’s ambitions for home ownership won’t be realised,’ said Brian Berry, FMB chief executive. ‘It’s not just house building and home ownership that are being hampered by the skills shortage. The future economic growth of our country relies on major infrastructure projects, such as HS2 and Hinkley Point, being built,’ Berry pointed out. ‘We urgently need to boost our workforce by convincing people, in their thousands, to return to our industry or join us for the first time. Key to this is the need to address the severe shortfall in apprenticeships,’ he explained. Continue reading
Access to a mortgage still regarded as a major barrier for new UK home owners
Just 12% of UK adults believe access to mortgages has improved in the past five years, but not enough, despite recent moves to open up the mortgage market, new research has found. This is a substantial drop from 29% recorded in similar research commissioned by Precise Mortgages last year. Despite this negative sentiment, the report witnessed improvement in some of the wider issues facing home owners. Over the last year UK renters, in general, see saving for a deposit, finding an affordable property and getting a mortgage approved less of a barrier to owning their own home than in 2014. However, some 49% of UK adults believe that mortgage rates only favour those with large deposits and 36% feel that mortgages are too difficult to obtain for first time buyers. But 76% of renters aged between 18 and 24 regard saving enough for a deposit as a barrier to owning their own home, and 67% say finding an affordable property is a barrier. With the average cost of a property now upward of £200,000and house price inflation set to hit 6% this year, affordability is likely to remain a challenge for first time buyers, the research suggests. Despite an uphill battle some 41% of those renting aged 18 to 24 still hope to own their own home in the next five years. However, amongst the older demographic the situation differs, with only 14% of renters aged 45 to 54 planning to own a property in the next five years, with the majority at 67% having no aspirations to be a home owner. ‘Prospective home buyers are feeling more positive about their ability to save and find an affordable property, but with consumer sentiment towards mortgage accessibility falling in the last year, the industry has a vital job to do in reassuring prospective home owners,’ said Alan Cleary, managing director of Precise Mortgages. ‘The mortgage industry should serve prospective homebuyers, and we must dispel the belief that lenders continue to favour large deposits and are unforgiving of those with blemishes on their credit record,’ he explained. ‘There are specialist lenders in the market ideally placed to help navigate the obstacles potential home buyers face, but there is still more to be done across the wider industry. Ensuring that all viable home owners have access to mortgage products should be the aim of the industry as a whole,’ he added. Continue reading
Prices continue to fall slightly in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, index data shows
Residential property prices in Dubai have fallen by 9.9% year on year and 0.75% month on month while rental prices are also down, according to the latest index data. A breakdown of the figures from the REIDIN index shows that apartment prices fell 10.4% year on year and are down 0.55% month on month while villa prices fell 8% year on year and 1.45% month on month in August. On the sales front apartment transactions were down for both apartments and villas. Month on month rents fell by 0.76% and 1.4% year on year, the data also shows. Apartment rental prices increased 1% compared with July but are 1.1% below August 2014 while villa rental priced fell 0.6% month on month and are down 2.9% year on year. In neighbouring Abu Dhabi property prices decreased 0.17% month on month and are down 3% year on year. Apartment prices registered a 0.46% decrease in August 2015 and are down 3.7% year on year while villa prices increased by 0.14% month on month but are down 2% compared to the previous year. Rents fell 0.23% month on month but are up 0.5% compared to August 2014. The data shows that for apartment rental prices fell 0.22% month on month and are down 0.8% year on year while villa rental prices fell 0.04% month on month and are up 2.2% year on year. Meanwhile, data from the Dubai Land Department suggests that the market is still attracting international buyers. Foreign investment into the property sector across Dubai increased to Dh53 billion in the first half of 2015. In Abu Dhabi a new decree has been issued to regulate and improve transparency in the emirate's real estate sector, requiring brokers and developers to be licensed and introducing rules to protect buyers of projects that are not yet completed. The rules, due to come into being soon, cover property advertising and marketing and introduce a means for complaints to be submitted and resolved more easily. All real estate developments must be registered with the government along with sales transactions listing the buyer. It means that new developments cannot be promoted or sold until they receive government approval and for unfinished projects, payments by buyers will be held in a separate, ring fenced account, while brokers will not be allowed to represent more than one party in a single transaction. Continue reading
