ROOF Blog

Redrow and Barratt Developments accused the banks of downgrading valuations on new properties to restrict lending. Redrow said the practice of down valuation by surveyors representing mortgage lenders was ‘widespread’ and posed a ‘major obstacle’ in the recovery of the housing market. It blamed the gap in valuation for about two-thirds of its current cancellation rate of 20 per cent. A spokesperson for Barratt said the policy was creating a ‘two-scheme mortgage sector’ and added that house builders were asking for new builds to be valued ‘appropriately’.

The European parliament wants Spanish planning laws to be changed to stop developers being able to acquire private land below market rates and force homeowners from their properties. In some regions planning authorities have been redesignating private land for urban use and rubber-stamping applications from developers, who then offer well below the market rate for the property or threaten to demolish the home. The government ruled the planners’ actions illegal and an EU report called for Spain to protect the rights of homeowners.

The Homes and Communities Agency has released plans to encourage private investors, including pension funds, to invest in private rented housing. Around eight organisations thought to include two housing associations and a couple of pension funds have been in talks with the HCA about building new properties, although the British Property Federation has warned the initiative may not be enough without changes to stamp duty charges for large scale investors.

Insurance giant Legal & General is in talks with the government about investing in the residential housing sector. It is looking into so-called ‘build to let’ opportunities to develop homes from scratch to take advantage of increasing rental returns.

The latest figures from the National House Building Council show the first quarter-on-quarter rise in applications to start new homes for almost two years. There was a rise in applications of 2 per cent in the final quarter on 2008. In March this year, the number of applications to start public sector homes exceeded the number of private sector applications. Regions in the South and East of England had the most new build applications.

And still on the Budget – the £100 million announced by Alistair Darling to help councils start building houses has been described as a ‘drop in the ocean’ after it emerged that as few as 900 homes will be created. Last year just 310 properties were built by councils in England, and since 1995 no local authority has built more than 500 homes a year. However, there are currently 4.5 million people stuck on the housing waiting list across England.

Meanwhile figures out from the National House Building Council (NHBC) show that applications from housing associations to build new homes have outstripped those from private developers for the first time. Public sector applications numbered 3,011 in March compared with 2,943 from the private sector, which is reflected in the decline. Overall, applications for new home starts during the first quarter were at their highest level for almost two years. Chief Executive of NHBC felt the figures held out hope ‘albeit at perilously low levels’ that the market was stabilising.

The number of new homes being built has fallen to an all-time low. Just 14,537 applications to start new homes in the combined public/private sectors in the past three months to the end of February – 59per cent lower than the same period a year ago. In private house starts that figure is down 72 per cent on the same time last year. The number of daily sales of new homes from December 2008 to February 2009 was 37 per cent lower than a year earlier.

Public spending is now funding almost half of new home building, according to figures from the National House Building Council. The public and private sectors provided almost equal numbers of new houses (around 45 per cent each) for the three months to the end of February, compared with just a fifth of new homes that were funded by the public sector at the end of 2007. The number of new homes being registered by the private sector dropped by around 75 per cent during 2008, while public sector registrations have stayed the same.

Work in construction continued to fall sharply in the final three months of last year, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors market survey has found. Private housing workloads remained the weakest category – 66 per cent more surveyors reporting a fall than a rise in this period. The national figure masks considerable regional variation – the pace of decline slowed in Northern Ireland and Wales, while in London and the South East and the South West, it picked up. Confidence in the next 12 months remains gloomy with 45 per cent of surveyors expecting workloads to fall rather than rise.