Andrew Ellson wrote a piece in the Times last weekend criticising  mortgage lenders and house-builders for considering a way to enable more first time buyers to get a foot on the property ladder. His analysis was based on the...[more]

This week’s very interesting Panorama programme dealt with council housing and its “cheats & victims” – it also made brief mentions of the lack of new housing supply and a general housing crisis. Towards the end of the programme...[more]

The first Thursday in May is a pretty big day politically. As well as the referendum on AV there are elections in 279 English local authorities in what will be billed as the first test of support for the coalition government’s...[more]

On Monday we heard that pilot development land auctions are to be announced in the budget (click here to view) as part of the drive for growth through development and construction. It’s an idea that has been knocking around for...[more]

Today we have seen two “announcements” of Government policy from Housing Minister, Grant Shapps; a ‘build now, pay later’ scheme on surplus public sector land and an apparent push for better designed houses and a move away from...[more]

This week we’ve released some new stats which reveal which local authorities are missing out the most because they’re not building the homes their area (and the country) needs. The New Homes Bonus (NHB) is a cornerstone of the...[more]

Squatting is back apparently. It even got a mention on Radio 4’s Broadcasting House on Sunday. Of course, it’s not the 60’s or the 70’s – times have moved on and we have to consider the now, not what once was. So what does the...[more]

While localism and the New Homes Bonus can improve elements of planning and housing delivery, in reality they risk tinkering around the edges. The overarching problem for house-building today is land supply. This is not to say...[more]

David Cameron and fellow government ministers have long stated their wish to build more homes than Labour did and to do this they have put all their eggs in the Localism basket. They’re banking on financial incentives – the New...[more]

The words ‘Housing Crisis’ are bandied about regularly these days. Pre-crash the housing market experienced an long boom latterly sustained by ready credit availability. When the crash hit, house prices plummeted before staging a...[more]