Tag Archives: news
Mayor of London announces Domesday Book of public land for building homes
The Mayor of London Boris Johnson is to publish the UK’s first database or Domesday Book of all brownfield public land that could be freed up for house building. Johnson said it will the first ever coordinated effort between City Hall, government and London boroughs to free up surplus public land to build the homes that the city so desperately needs. The London Land Commission has appointed real estate research firm Savills to compile the preliminary stages of public land data base which will be completed by the end of 2015. Once collected, City Hall will use the data to map the spread of sites across the city. It is thought to be the first time such a comprehensive set of data has ever been collected for London. The creation of the commission follows announcements from Chancellor George Osborne last week on major planning reforms designed to speed up development of brownfield land in London and increase capacity to build more homes in the areas they are most needed. The commission will build on work already begun by the Mayor in disposing of his own land holdings for development. At present 98% of all land previously in his ownership has been released, within touching distance of the 100% target for the end of his term in 2016. The commission will also work across layers of government and public bodies to develop strategies for unlocking public land for development and thus identify priority areas for future growth and co-ordinate efforts to fast track the process, whilst ensuring a good return for the taxpayer and better regeneration sites across London. The inaugural meeting was attended by London councils, NHS England, Transport for London and Network Rail with participation at the highest levels from other bodies such as the Department of Health. ‘The London Land Commission will build on the great efforts we've already made at City Hall to ensure brownfield land that has laid empty for years is put to productive use in providing much needed housing for Londoners,’ said Johnson. ‘In a city like ours, with its burgeoning population, it is simply madness not to act as quickly as we can to unlock more of these kinds of sites. The Commission's work will be vital in co-ordinating the efforts of a whole raft of public bodies to achieve this important goal, helping to cut through the red tape that has kept valuable land tied up for too long,’ he added. Housing Minister Brandon Lewis said there is clear demand to release land and provide more homes for Londoners. ‘The London Land Commission will bring a joined up approach to land release in the capital, regenerating brownfield land and providing more homes, whilst continuing to protect the green belt around our Capital,’ he explained. London Councils executive member for housing and Mayor of Lewisham Sir Steve Bullock said it is vital is that our overall strategy to tackle the housing crisis delivers an increase in… Continue reading
Home approvals strengthen in Australia but new home sales fall
New home approvals in Australia strengthened during May and remain at high levels, up 2.4% compared to the previous month, the latest data shows. Multi-unit approvals soared 15.1% but detached house approvals fell by 8.5% with a total of 218,442 approvals recorded in the year to May, a new record for approvals over any 12 month period since records began in 1983. ‘While it is positive to see improved levels of approvals, the distribution of growth was uneven with multi units increasing significantly during the month and detached house approvals falling back,’ said Shane Garrett, the Housing Industry Association’s senior economist. He pointed out that during 2014, new home building reached an all-time high and the latest figures suggest a solid pipeline of new home building during the second half of 2015. ‘However, the recent strengthening of price pressures in several markets indicates that the supply of new homes will need to stay at elevated levels in order to fully address demand,’ he warned. ‘This onus is very much on policymakers here. They must rectify the bottlenecks in the planning system, redress the excessive fees and charges on new residential developments and ensure that the pipeline of residential land will meet the ongoing community demand for new homes,’ he added. A breakdown of the figures shows that approvals saw the strongest increase in Victoria with growth of 11%, followed by New South Wales at 8.8%, Queensland at 3.6%, and Western Australia at 0.2%. Approvals fell significantly in Tasmania with a fall of 32.6% and were down 9.9% in South Australia. In trend terms approvals increased in the Northern Territory by 9.7% and in the ACT by 6% during May. Meanwhile, the HIA New Home Sales Report, a survey of Australia’s largest volume builders, recorded the first decline for 2015 in May with total seasonally adjusted new home sales falling by 2.3%. The decline was driven by a 5.1% dip in detached house sales, and this reflected weaker monthly demand in four out of the five states surveyed, according to HIA chief economist Harley Dale. ‘This is a softer result at face value, but delving beneath the surface reveals an aggregate profile of healthy new home building conditions in 2015. The mature stage of the new home building cycle primarily reflects further momentum in the multi-unit sector, together with persistence of healthy conditions in New South Wales and Victoria,’ he pointed out. The data shows that new sales of multi-units increased by 7.6% to yet a new record level, with sales volumes up by 26.7% over the three months to May. Meanwhile strength in detached houses sales is evident in New South Wales and Victoria, with growth in the May 2015 quarter of 5.2% and 6.2% respectively. ‘Leading indicators such as new home sales and ABS building approvals will provide vital clues in coming months of the sustainability and composition of the upcycle in new home building in 2015/2016,’ said Dale. A breakdown of the… Continue reading
More than half a million British properties now worth over £1 million
The number of home owners in Britain whose property is worth £1 million or more has exceeded half a million for the first time, according to new research. The number of so called property millionaires now stands at 524,306, an increase of 8.3% on last year’s figure and almost 11,000 streets now have an average property value above £1 million, the data from Zoopla shows. Of the 10,958 streets with average property prices over £1 million some 43% are located in London. Areas outside the capital with the highest proportion of £1 million plus streets are all in Surrey, with Guildford, Leatherhead and Richmond housing 158, 154 and 144 respectively. At the very top end of the market, the data shows there are now 13 streets in Britain where the average house price is over £10 million, all of which are in London. Kensington Palace Gardens in W8 ranked as the country’s most expensive street overall, with homes there worth £42,591,972 on average, over 150 times the average national property value. The Boltons in SW10, where a nine bedroom detached house sold for £51 million in April, takes second place, with average property values standing at £30,288,586. Grosvenor Crescent in the exclusive suburb of SW1 rounds out the top three, with an average property price of £22,752,425. While exclusive London boroughs boast most of Britain’s priciest properties, certain areas of Surrey and Buckinghamshire have also acquired a reputation for very high property values. Virginia Water and Cobham, both in Surrey, top the towns table, with average property prices of £1,208,638 and £1,037,825 respectively. Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire, where the average property value amounts to £982,660, comes in third. In terms of postcodes, W8 in Kensington, remains top of the heap, boasting average property prices of £2.77 million. Neighbouring SW7 in Knightsbridge is the next most expensive area in the capital with average values of £2.43 million, while property values in third placed SW3 in Chelsea stand at £2.24 million. ‘London continues to be the epicentre of the million pound property market in Britain but there are a number of high value property areas outside the capital, particularly in Surrey and Buckinghamshire, that are very attractive to professionals seeking to live outside yet within easy reach of the city and enjoy low crime rates coupled with good schools,’ said Lawrence Hall of Zoopla. Continue reading
