Govt schemes ‘stimulating housing supply’

RESEARCH from commercial property agents suggests Government measures are stimulating the supply of housing.

Jones Lang LaSalle’s Residential Eye report said mothballed schemes had come back to life due to Government subsidies and Help to Buy, which allows buyers to borrow 20% of the purchase price from the Government, was driving demand.

Last week Deloitte Real Estate said the Government’s Get Britain Building fund, which backed stalled schemes, had triggered eight new residential developments on the edge of Salford, in the Northern Quarter and in Ancoats areas.

However, in a residential development survey by Lambert Smith Hampton 47% of respondents described Government programmes as positive but said they only offer a short term economic fix. Some 56% of those surveyed identified development finance as the biggest factor affecting the delivery of housing, followed by 36% who believed that planning policy was the key issue.

JLL said the North West needs 17,500 new homes every year and there are signs the development land market is in full recovery, with more plots sold in the first half of 2013 than in the whole of 2012.

Stephen Hogg, head of regional residential for JLL, said: “It’s the first time since the collapse of Lehman Brothers that we’re predicting growth across the North’s three key cities. The third quarter of this year in particular has been incredibly strong. The pent up demand for housing is significant and the biggest challenge for each city now is to encourage further development so that prices don’t become unaffordable.”

But Dan Bolton, associate director and residential specialist at LSH Manchester, was less optimistic. He said: “This survey has brought into sharp relief the scepticism that the sector has about the Government’s ability to provide a long term solution to the delivery of housing to support our growing population. While there are many factors in play, most views point towards a need for stronger guidance from the centre, and investment focused on creating a change at the heart of the system.”

He added: “The reality is that this is a crisis that has been building for well over 20 years and there is no single answer to solving it. Now is the time for a coherent strategy and review of our system, something that extends past party political boundaries and above short term populist policies.”