A weekly news summary covering all aspects of the housebuilding industry. Available to members only.
HBF calls on Brown to give housing a position in cabinet...... read
RICs reveal HIPs loop-hole...... read
Book your table now at the HBF ball to receive 10% discount...... read
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HBF calls on Brown to give housing a position in Cabinet
Stewart Baseley, Executive Chairman of the Home Builders Federation (HBF), has called on Prime Minister-designate Gordon Brown to mark his commitment to building new homes by creating a new role of ‘Secretary of State for Housing' with a seat in cabinet. The proposal is part of a ‘mini-manifesto' setting out five measures which HBF believes the new Prime Minister should prioritise in order to tackle the shortage of housing facing the country.
Commenting, Stewart Baseley says:
"Housing has not enjoyed its own Minister in Cabinet since 1969, when it was subsumed into the Department for the Environment. In the past, both Harold MacMillan and Sir Keith Joseph implemented ambitious housebuilding programmes from the top table in Government.
"It is time housing was once more given the priority it demands - a Cabinet Minister with specific responsibility for tackling Britain's chronic housing shortage.
Remediation Tax Relief Review
HBF has submitted its response to "Tax incentives for development of brownfield land: a consultation".
View the submission document (members only)
HBF facilitated Energy Performance Certificate stakeholder meeting
HBF held a meeting on Wednesday with stakeholders from the industry and officials from CLG to discuss how Energy Performance Certificates would work in practice with the different SAP softwares. The discussion points from the meeting have been noted by CLG and a further meeting is scheduled for the 16th July.
Bookings now being taken for the HBF Ball - book your tables early to receive a 10% discount
The highlight of the industry's social calendar is being held once again at the luxurious The London Marriott Hotel, Grosvenor Square on Friday 7 December.
The evening commences at 7.30pm with a champagne reception, followed by a superb 3-course meal and live entertainment.
Please note that tables of 10 & 12 booked before Friday 28 September will receive a 10% discount.
Tables of 10 and 12 can be booked by completing the booking form below. If you wish to book an alternative sized table then please contact the events team on 020 7960 1646 or events@hbmedia.co.uk
Last chance to book your place at the HBF Graduates Conference
This year's Graduate's conference titled ‘a new era in home building' will be held at Holywell Park, Loughborough University on 5 July. The one-day conference is designed to create understanding of current industry issues via facilitated constructive group discussion and networking amongst graduates and trainees from different companies, backgrounds and disciplines.
Keynote speakers include Steve Sanham, Development Surveyor from Urban Splash and Steve Clarke, Regional Design Director from Redrow Homes.
CLG have laid the revised regulations to deliver Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) and Home Information (HIPs) into the housing market on 1 August
On Monday DCLG laid two sets of regulations before parliament - the revised HIPs regulations to replace those laid in March in line with Ruth Kelly's announcement on 22 May plus regulations to make amendments to the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive regulations, which are already in force.
The following changes are included in the regulations:
The requirement to have a HIP when a home is marketed will be rolled out in phases according to the size of the property starting on 1 August with homes that have 4 bedrooms or more. The legal definition of a four bedroom property under the regulations is still awaited.
The requirement for a full EPC for new build on completion has been postponed from October to January 2008.
Removal of requirement to produce an Interim Energy Assessment on properties built to Part L 2006.
Properties can be marketed without a HIP until an EPC can be obtained for a limited period.
Obligation to include "fridge rating" charts for energy efficiency and environmental impact in estate agents' particulars.
Maximum age of EPC when a property is put on the market to be extended from 3 to 12 months pending a further consultation on this issue following the RICs legal challenge.
Responding to the revised regulations Nick Salmon, head of SPLINTA, the anti-HIPs group said: 'There is no legal definition of what constitutes a bedroom and owners of four bedroom properties need only say 'three bedrooms plus a study' to avoid the need for a HIP. Government believes people won't do this because a four-bedroom property is in theory more valuable than a three bedroom but if an agent describes the property this way after August 1st most people will work out the code. The new regulations are unworkable and unenforceable and there won't be a single four bedroom home left in the country on August 2nd'.
Full details of the revised regulations
HIPs to slip through massive Government loop-hole according to RICs
On 14 June RICs drew attention to a legal loop-hole they have identified in the new Home Information Pack (HIP) regulations which they say means sellers will not be required to produce a HIP at the exchange of contracts, making them fundamentally redundant.
RICS say sellers need only prove they have ordered a HIP at the point of sale.
If a buyer is found and the property is taken off the market before the HIP can be produced, the seller may never need to pay for it.
RICS spokesperson Jeremy Leaf said:
"This is another example of rushed policy that fails to meet the needs of consumers and the housing industry. RICS members have been pressing for clarification on the new regulations, for fear of breaking the law. We have been forced to tell them that to the best of our knowledge, selling a house without a HIP would not be illegal during the interim period. Unless the Government can show us the regulation that says a property cannot be sold without a HIP, consumers and industry will be left to draw their own conclusions. This will lead to two groups of consumers - those who pay for a HIP and those who legally get round the rules."
Ming's bling - now Liberal Democrats join the housing debate
In a major speech on 14 June, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies (Ming) Campbell recognised the importance of the housing crisis and set out a number of proposals for tackling it.
Starting from the premise that "Housing isn't just a Big Issue, it's becoming the Biggest Issue", Sir Menzies outlined three major planks of proposed future policy:
A building programme of "one hundred thousand new social, low cost and affordable houses every year", recognising that this required improved land supply
Radical reforms in planning - ending "the top-down, centralised approach in today's planning system" and piloting "a major new experiment ...using land auctions" of land not "zoned for development in a local plan" to incentivise local communities to accept more development
High environmental standards - "by 2011 all new homes should be built to the GreenHouse standard" (understood to be broadly the same as the German Passiv Haus standard)
Conservatives maintain focus on "garden-grabbing"
Ahead of possible further discussion of her Private Member's Bill on Land Use (garden protection) today, Shadow Conservative Communities Secretary Caroline Spelman drew attention in a press release to figures showing that the number of homes being built on land that was previously a garden has risen by a third since 1997 with "one in five new homes now being built on previously residential property".
Mrs Spelman said:
"Across the country there is growing concern about gardens disappearing under concrete regardless of local opinion.
"Too often gardens which are a rich source of biodiversity are concreted over to make way for high blocks of flats, when the real demand is for family homes with sufficient parking spaces and areas for children to play."
Mrs Spelman's Bill will attempt to remove gardens from the classification of brownfield land.
Cooper set to give jobs land over to new home builders
Local authorities could be given greater freedom to allow developers to build homes on land earmarked for employment use as part of a shake-up of planning rules.
Housing minister Yvette Cooper told the Communities and Local Government Select Committee this week that it would consider the move during the revision of planning policy statement 4. This sets the rules for economic development planning policy.
The government will launch a consultation on PPS4 in the summer following a recommendation by the economist Kate Barker.
Andrew Whitaker, head of planning at the Home Builders Federation, said: ‘Local authorities are encouraged to make realistic decisions on all possible uses of brownfield land. We are getting a few problems with mostly inner city boroughs which seem to want to hang on to employment land for a long time, but overall, I don't think it's something that local authorities aren't dealing with.'
The final version of PPS4 is expected to be published next Spring.
Unions campaign to extend Gangmasters Licensing Act to construction
Unions representing construction workers in the UK have come together in support of a proposal to extend the Gangmasters Licensing Act to the construction sector. A ten minute rule bill to promote this measure was presented to the Commons on June 13th by Jim Sheridan MP, architect of the original gangmasters legislation, passed in 2004 with government, cross party, trade union and industry backing following the Morecambe Bay tragedy. At Prime Minister's questions on 13 June the Prime Minister reserved the Government's position on whether it would support this proposal.
CLG have released the House Price Index for April 2007
The mix-adjusted average house price in the UK in April 2007 stood at £209,454, up from £206,890 in March 2007 (not seasonally adjusted).
UK annual house price inflation in April 2007 was 11.3 per cent, up from 10.9 per cent in March 2007. Annual house price inflation in London was 14.0 per cent in April, up from 13.9 per cent in March.
The UK annual house price inflation rate for the 3 months to April was 11.3 per cent and 14.7 per cent in London.
Housing market slows but buyer enquiries hold up says RICs
House price inflation slowed in May, but buyer enquires stabilised in spite of the May interest rate rise, says RICS' UK Housing Market Survey published this week.
House prices rose for the nineteenth consecutive month in May but the rate of growth reverted back to the slowing trend which began at the end of last year.
New instructions to sell property increased at the fastest pace in the survey's history. According to the surveyors, the surge in new instructions was driven by increasing numbers of sellers listing their property early in order to avoid upfront costs of assembling Home Information Packs (HIPs).
Economic Indicators
CPI inflation fell back to 2.5% in May, as the Bank of England had expected. Headline inflation also eased back to 4.3% from a peak of 4.8% in March. However the Bank remains concerned about medium-term inflation pressures.
Although retail sales growth slowed to 4.4% in the three months to May from 4.8% in April, growth in the last few months has been well above last year's rates, despite a one percentage point rise in interest rates since August.
Claimant-count unemployment in May fell for the eight successive month. It has fallen by 7.5% (71,500) in the last 12 months. There was also a drop in the broader ILO unemployment measure in the three months to April.
Average earnings growth, excluding bonuses, shows no sign of any upward pressure. The three month average growth rate has been static at 3.6% for the last four months. This will reassure the Monetary Policy Committee which has been worried that the recent inflation spike might create upward pressure on wages.
Land for Housing
The CLG estimates there were 62,700 hectares of previously-developed land in England in 2006, of which 55% was vacant or derelict. The remainder is in use but is judged by local authorities to have potential for redevelopment.
Local authorities estimate that 26,750 hectares are potentially suitable for housing, with capacity for 974,000 dwellings. Just over half is currently in use. The South East has the largest area of land suitable for housing (5,200 hectares), followed by the East of England (4,400 hectares).
Of all previously developed land identified by the CLG, 11% is owned by local authorities, 16% by other public bodies and 56% by private owners. A high proportion of the remaining 18% with unknown ownership is likely to be privately owned.
RTPI's Opening up the Debate: Exploring housing land supply myths
The Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) launched its report, ‘Opening Up the Debate: Exploring housing land supply myths' yesterday to coincide with the start of its 2007 Planning Convention. The report - which is also being submitted to the
Callcutt Review - makes the case for not attaching undue blame to the planning system for the housing supply crisis. It also argues that home builders' land banks need to be considered to establish whether the industry is doing enough to meet supply.
In response to a raft of inquiries from the trade press, HBF has stressed the need to focus on fully implementable planning permissions and pointed out that its own current survey reveals that hardly any sites with fully implementable permission have not commenced work within three months.
Yvette Cooper launches world leading sustainable buildings on BRE's Innovation Park
This week Yvette Cooper, Minister for Housing & Planning, launched five demonstration buildings on the BRE Innovation Park that are world leading in sustainable design and construction. Using some of the very latest innovations in construction technologies and materials, these buildings all address the ‘zero carbon' challenge making them amongst the most sustainable buildings in the world.
Four of the houses on the BRE Innovation Park by Stewart Milne Group, Kingspan, ecoTECH and Hanson have been built to the Government's new Code for Sustainable Homes, introduced in April this year. These houses are the first to be assessed under the new voluntary regulation.
Chief Executive of BRE Dr Peter Bonfield commented ‘We are delighted to play host to such a fantastic array of sustainable buildings - it's truly inspirational how our industry partners on the BRE Innovation Park have addressed the ‘zero carbon' challenge in their own unique way. They have positioned the UK as world leading innovators in design and construction of sustainable building'.
For further information on the BRE Innovation Park
Jo Weston