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Experts urge UK govt not to sacrifice quality for quantity in house building crusade
The UK’s oldest housing and planning charity has expressed its concern about the implications of the Government's announcement of further significant deregulation to planning. According to the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) the recent announcement from Prime Minister David Cameron that he wants to build a million new homes by 2020, many of them affordable and aimed at first time buyers, quality could be sacrificed for quantity. It will means the introduction of US style zonal planning for brownfield sites, and the removal of a range of controls that are vital to ensure that high quality homes are built, it says while fully supporting the initiative. The TCPA is concerned that local communities will have no control over the quality of many of the homes built in their areas and says that by allowing large numbers of new homes to be created without going through the usual planning processes, there is a clear risk that we will build poor quality developments which increase the pressure on community facilities such as roads, schools and doctors' surgeries. It also criticises the plant to make permanent the temporary changes to permitted development rules so that offices can be converted into homes without the need for planning permission. It says this risks creating poor quality housing with no space for children to play, no car parkin; and no consideration of the need for more local school places, GP surgeries and other community facilities and infrastructure. Granting outline planning permission for any housing built on brownfield land, in effect, represents the introduction of zonal planning, it says, a system that can work well if properly implemented with detailed procedures to ensure quality but represents a major change to English planning that the Government is introducing with no consultation, and no safeguards to safeguard quality. ‘The decision to extend permitted development from office to residential seriously undermines the ability to create decent homes in vibrant communities. The Government says it is committed to localism and that it wants planning to give power to local communities. However, the announcements mean that local communities will have even less say over how their neighbourhoods are developed,’ said Kate Henderson, TCPA chief executive. According to Hugh Ellis, head of policy at the TCPA, it is a major deregulation of local planning and the loss of community control over large parts of the urban environment.’ It is worrying that this has come at a time when we know we need smart green cities that can deal with climate change and provide healthy environments for ordinary people. These announcements are a missed opportunity to ensure we create high quality, successful and climate resilient places,’ he added. The TCPA is currently undertaking a major new project, Planning4People, which pushes for strong and democratic planning system which puts the needs of ordinary people at the heart of planning. ‘As we strive to address the housing crisis and build the homes that the nation… Continue reading
Rental growth is weak outside of Australian capital cities, new data shows
Residential rental market conditions outside of capital cities in Australia remained weak over the September 2015 quarter with prices falling or remaining flat. Weekly rents fell the most in regional Western Australia with a decrease of 2.6, they were down 2.1% in the Northern Territory and down 1.7% in Victoria. The remaining capital cities all recorded flat condition over the three months ending September 2015. Regional unit markets also showed weak rental conditions, with regional Tasmania the only area recording an increase in apartment rents over the quarter with growth of 2.2%. Unit rents were down over the quarter in regional Western Australia by 2.9%, in New South Wales by 1.5% and the remaining capital cities all showed flat rental conditions. According to CoreLogic RP Data head of research Tim Lawless there has been a significant slowdown in the rate of rental growth over the past couple of years due to new housing supply increasing and investor purchasing at record highs. He expects this trend to continue over the coming year. Annually, rents rose across some of the regional rental markets, however, Lawless noted that the performance as a whole remains relatively weak. Tasmania recorded the strongest rental growth across the country with a 2% increase for houses and 4.5% for units. He pointed out that on the other hand, the most substantial fall in rental rates, relative to September last year, were across regional Northern Territory where house rents are down 6% year on year and units down 6.5%. ‘Those regions with strong ties to the mining and resources sector are pulling regional rental lower as demand for housing continues to moderate. On the other hand, regional lifestyle and coastal markets are bucking the softening trend to some extent with showing year on year rises,’ Lawless concluded. Continue reading
Less than one in five house sales fell through in UK in third quarter
Less than one in five house sales fell through between July and September in the UK, taking the house sale fall through rate to its lowest level since late 2012, new research shows. The figures from home buyer Quick Move Now indicate a house sale fall through rate of 19.62% in the third quarter of the year, down from 36.34% in the second quarter of 2015. The six month average fall through, which offers a greater overview of how the property market is performing generally, shows that at the end of the second quarter it was 28.44% but this fell to 27.99% in the third quarter. ‘As the property market becomes more competitive, buyers are coming to the market better prepared in order to make themselves more attractive to vendors when competing for property,’ said Danny Luke, business manager at Quick Move Now. ‘Often, buyers will already have sought financial advice, have mortgage offers in place, and taken time to really consider affordability so they know what they can afford and they know what they're looking for, so when they find a good property they want to snap it up as quickly as possible and not risk losing out to another buyer,’ he added. He also believes that due to continued market buoyancy and predicted interest rate rises, buyers are keen to secure properties quickly before they're priced out of the market. Meanwhile, separate research shows that demand for London property at below £2 million is set to remain strong, with the city’s population forecast to grow by more than 100,000 every year for the next decade. As house prices grow across London, it will create new markets where properties cross the £1 million threshold, according to the latest London Residential Review from real estate firm Knight Frank. The analysis is based on postcode districts where at least 20% of sales have been above £1 million in at least one quarter since the start of 2014. The minimum threshold was five sales and no postcode district was allowed to have more than one quarter with 20% of sales above £1 million before 2014. The data shows that Hammersmith (W6) had five such quarters since 2014, making it the area that has undergone the biggest transformation in terms of £1 million plus sales. Other areas include Maida Vale (W9), Queen’s Park (NW6), East Finchley (N2) and Muswell Hill (N10). Further south, Battersea (SW11) and Vauxhall (SW8) have consolidated their positions as £1 million markets. Continue reading
