By Neil Merrick
30 October 2009
Social landlords are embarking on fewer housing schemes even though the industry is showing modest signs of recovery.
According to the National House Building Council, applications to build homes by housing associations and other public sector bodies fell by 13% to 8,559 in the third quarter of 2009. Overall registrations or starts, including by private builders, rose by 4% to 24,136.
NHBC statistics also show that public sector registrations, made almost entirely by RSLs, dropped every month this year compared with the same months in 2008.
Private sector results were more mixed but completions across the industry fell by 20% to 26,777 in the three months to September 2009.
Mehban Chowdery, the NHBC’s regional director with responsibility for social housing, said a reduction in large private developments and linked section 106 ‘planning gain’ schemes was a major reason for the decline in RSL starts.
Grants from the Homes and Communities Agency were falling, he said, while RSLs were wary of building homes that they might struggle to sell. ‘Housing associations are going through a tough time in managing their cost base,’ he said.
Stuart Ropke, the National Housing Federation’s head of investment policy and strategy, said the increase in private sector activity was encouraging – even though it was starting from a low base. ‘We should see more homes coming from planning gain,’ he said.
The NHBC figures coincided with a British Property Federation report, published on October 27, which backed Conservative plans to boost house building by giving councils incentives to approve developments. Under the plans, council tax receipts from new homes would be matched pound for pound by the Treasury, with an extra 25% for affordable homes.
The report, Making localism deliver, said bonus payments of this sort represent a form of tax increment financing.
Meanwhile, housing minister John Healey urged councils to speed up developments. Speaking ahead of the October 30 deadline for the HCA’s new build programme, he said he wanted councils to start work well before the March 2011 deadline.
30 October 2009
Social landlords are embarking on fewer housing schemes even though the industry is showing modest signs of recovery.
According to the National House Building Council, applications to build homes by housing associations and other public sector bodies fell by 13% to 8,559 in the third quarter of 2009. Overall registrations or starts, including by private builders, rose by 4% to 24,136.
NHBC statistics also show that public sector registrations, made almost entirely by RSLs, dropped every month this year compared with the same months in 2008.
Private sector results were more mixed but completions across the industry fell by 20% to 26,777 in the three months to September 2009.
Mehban Chowdery, the NHBC’s regional director with responsibility for social housing, said a reduction in large private developments and linked section 106 ‘planning gain’ schemes was a major reason for the decline in RSL starts.
Grants from the Homes and Communities Agency were falling, he said, while RSLs were wary of building homes that they might struggle to sell. ‘Housing associations are going through a tough time in managing their cost base,’ he said.
Stuart Ropke, the National Housing Federation’s head of investment policy and strategy, said the increase in private sector activity was encouraging – even though it was starting from a low base. ‘We should see more homes coming from planning gain,’ he said.
The NHBC figures coincided with a British Property Federation report, published on October 27, which backed Conservative plans to boost house building by giving councils incentives to approve developments. Under the plans, council tax receipts from new homes would be matched pound for pound by the Treasury, with an extra 25% for affordable homes.
The report, Making localism deliver, said bonus payments of this sort represent a form of tax increment financing.
Meanwhile, housing minister John Healey urged councils to speed up developments. Speaking ahead of the October 30 deadline for the HCA’s new build programme, he said he wanted councils to start work well before the March 2011 deadline.
