HBF Wales Weekly News Summary Friday 15 May 2009

15 May, 2009

Friday, 15th May 2009

Top stories this week

Kickstart housing delivery scheme guidance published...read more

RICS: Further rise in buyer enquires but new instructions fall again.....read more

CML: Lowest mortgage costs since 2004.....read more

CLG announce new criteria for Housing and Planning Delivery Grant.....read more

HCA and Metropolitan Housing Partnership: UK’s first zero carbon homes........read more

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Housing market news

Government and political news

Top Story

Kickstart housing delivery scheme guidance published

The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) this week published guidance and Heads of Terms on the Kickstart Housing Delivery scheme. The £400m programme that was announced in last month's Budget is targeted at getting house building sites that are currently stalled started again. It includes upfront investment support for infrastructure and development costs complemented by support for affordable housing and HomeBuy Direct. HBF has been in discussions with HCA about the programme and it is clear that there is a keenness to get the money allocated for appropriate sites in as timely a manner as possible. Members are advised to view the guidance issued and submit expressions of interest to HCA by 8th June.

Wales news

New approach to lending for housing associations in Wales considered

The Welsh Assembly Government is looking at a new model for housing associations to access private funding, Deputy Housing Minister Jocelyn Davies AM announced this week.

The Deputy Minister revealed that she is examining plans to secure resources for housing and make existing budgets stretch further including a proposed Welsh Housing Bond and Local Authority mortgages, at the Community Housing Cymru annual conference in Llandrindod Wells.

Guidance on design and access statements

The Welsh Assembly Government has produced interim guidance on Design and Access Statements prior to the publication of the revision of Technical Advice Note (TAN) 12: Design in June 2009.

The guidance should be used in the interim to assist applicants in ensuring that applications for planning permission, or listed building consent, with exceptions, which are submitted on or after 1st June 2009, contain all the relevant information on design and access issues.

Click here to view the legislation

Click here to view the interim guidance

£38m regeneration boost for North Wales announced

Plans for a £38m regeneration scheme to transform towns and communities across North Wales will get underway following the go-ahead for Convergence Funding, Leighton Andrews, Deputy Minister for Regeneration, announced.

Aimed at driving forward the economic regeneration of seven of Wales’ most deprived communities, the four year initiative will fund 14 schemes within the Môn a Menai and North Wales Coastal Strategic Regeneration Areas.

Most homeowners believe prices set to stabilise or rise

The Rightmove Consumer Confidence Survey – which provides an insight into the minds of more than 22,000 homeowners and buyers – discovered that six out of 10 people feel that house prices will remain steady over the next 12 months.

The majority – around 71% of those asked – also told researchers that they feel now is the ideal time to buy. Levelling prices and the property market nudging ever closer to its trough mean that a growing number of prospective buyers are willing to invest in the market, the website claimed.

The website also discovered that in Wales, 32% felt that prices could rise over the coming year, a roughly similar proportion felt prices would remain broadly the same, and a third said prices would fall further. Miles Shipside, Rightmove’s commercial director, said:

“The fact that a majority of homeowners feel confident that prices are set to stabilise or increase in the next 12 months is a key indicator that the worst of the falls may be over.

“It’s not just sentiment, either. There is pent-up demand following 18 months of chronically low activity. People have put their moves and lives on hold and are now looking at ways of getting their own roof over their heads.”

Housing market news

RICS: Further rise in buyer enquires but new instructions fall again

The RICS house price index, published this week, reported that:

Rising buyer interest has fuelled greater sales activity;

The changes to the Home Information Pack (HIP) rules have led to a sharp drop in new instructions;

The increase in sales to stock ratio for the fourth consecutive month suggests house prices could stabilise later in the year.

The seasonally adjusted net balance of surveyors reporting falling rather than rising prices posted a marked improvement in April. At 59.9, the series remained deeply in negative territory but this still represents the best reading since January 2008;

New buyer enquiries have now increased for six months in a row with the positive net balance in April climbing to its best level since August 1999;

There was also more evidence that the higher level of buyer interest was feeding through into actual sales. Newly agreed sales, measured on a net balance basis, rose over the month as did the average sales per surveyor series;

The stock of unsold property on surveyors books edged up slightly, with the April data showing average stocks per surveyor standing at 69.3 (-19% year on year);

However, sales levels have increased proportionally, resulting in a further increase in the sales to stock ratio. This key guide to the future price trend has now risen for four successive months. The latest reading of 15.3% was the best since September last year and compares with the low of 12.9% touched in December.

Rightmove: Buyer optimism on the up

Prospective buyers are increasingly optimistic about the housing market with many feeling that now is a good a time to buy, reveals the latest Rightmove consumer confidence survey.

Rightmove polled over 22,800 potential buyers and sellers as part of its survey and found that a massive 71% believe it currently a good time to buy. The number of those believing now is the time to buy represents a 5.5% jump since the beginning of the year.

Consumer sentiment over house prices has also undergone a dramatic turnaround. Some 35% of respondents are expecting house prices to fall further over the next 12 months, but three months ago this figure stood at 69%. Miles Shipside, Commercial Director at Rightmove, says:

“The fact that a majority of homeowners feel confident that prices are set to stabilise or increase in the next 12 months is a key indicator that the worst of the falls may be over.

“It’s not just sentiment either. There is pent-up demand following 18 months of chronically low activity. People have put their moves and lives on hold and are now looking at ways of getting their own roof over their heads.”

CLG house price index, March 2009

The latest UK house price index statistics produced by Communities and Local Government were released this week. The latest statistics release includes data based on mortgage completions during the month of March 2009.

The key points from the release include:

UK house prices were 13.6% lower than in March 2008;

The mix-adjusted average house price in the UK stood at £187,193 in March 2009 (not seasonally adjusted);

UK house prices fell by 3.8% in the quarter ending March 2009. This compares with a fall of 6.4% for the quarter ending December 2008;

Annual average house prices fell in England (-13.8%), Wales (-13.0%), Scotland (-9.8%) and Northern Ireland (-16.1%);

Annual average house prices paid by first time buyers in March 2009 were 16.7% lower than a year ago. By comparison average house prices paid by former owner occupiers were 12.4% lower.

CML: Lowest mortgage costs since 2004

While borrowers still need large deposits to be able to enter the market, and overall lending remains constrained, both first-time buyers and home movers are benefiting from the lowest debt servicing costs since 2004, according to the latest monthly lending survey from the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

House purchase lending accounted for 35% of all mortgage lending in March, up from 31% in February and the highest proportion since December 2007. Within house purchase lending, first-time buyers accounted for an increasing share - 40% of loans, up from 38% the previous month. This is the highest proportion since April 2005, although the absolute number of first-time buyers remains low - 12,500, up from 9,200 in February but well below the 17,800 recorded in March 2008 (not seasonally adjusted).

First-time buyers on average borrowed three times their income and 75% of the value of their property in March. Both these average measures were unchanged from February. For those with deposits large enough to enable them to buy, the combination of low interest rates and lower house prices mean that their monthly interest payment now equates to only 15.1% of their income, the lowest proportion since June 2004 (15.1%).

There were 18,900 home mover loans in the month worth £18.9 billion, up from £14.9 billion in February - an increase of 27%, but 34% down on March 2008. The average home mover loan was £115,000, compared with £135,000 in March 2008. Interest payments typically consumed 11.4% of a home mover’s income, the lowest proportion since January 2004 (11.4%).

NAEA: Response to CML figures

Following the publication of the Council of Mortgage Lenders latest monthly lending survey, Peter Bolton King, chief executive of the National Association of Estate Agents, said:

“First time buyers believe that there are bargains to be had in property at the moment, and the upshot of this is that confidence is returning to the market.

“Every measure by every organisation has shown that the fall in house prices is slowing, and it is understandable that those people who have access to finance want to take advantage of that and reap the rewards when the market begins to bounce.

“Responsibility is now the key to market success. The major lenders must be responsible rather than draconian with their lending; the property market must demonstrate that it is responsible by embracing calls for agents to be licensed; and the Government should admit responsibility for damaging schemes such as stamp duty, and scrap them accordingly.”

CML: Buy-to-let activity in the first quarter of 2009

New buy-to-let lending fell for the sixth consecutive quarter in the first three months of 2009, reflecting the continuation of extremely challenging funding conditions as well as general housing market weakness, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders. Buy-to-lending accounted for 6% of all gross mortgage lending in the first quarter, down from 12% a year earlier.

There were 22,400 new buy-to-let mortgages advanced in the first quarter, down from 38,000 in the fourth quarter of 2008 and 72,400 in the first quarter of last year. The total number of outstanding buy-to-let mortgages was 1,155,200 at the first quarter, slightly down from 1,157,000 at the end of 2008.

By value, buy-to-let gross advances totalled £2.1 billion in the first quarter, down from £4.0 billion in the fourth quarter and £9.5 billion in the first quarter of last year.

Government and political news

CLG announces new criteria for Housing and Planning Delivery Grant

On 12th May CLG published a consultation on the allocation mechanism for year 2 and 3 of Housing and Planning Delivery Grant. Following on from the £100m worth of grant distributed to LPAs last year the new criteria propose greater emphasis on the publication of a robust Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) and an agreed 5 year housing land supply (5YLS). Both assessments will receive bonuses where they are endorsed by a Housing Market Partnership (HMP) which, it is proposed, should include as a minimum “a senior employee of a developer who is active in the area”.

The consultation was accompanied by the findings of a CLG audit of 5 year housing land supply for the Year 1 HPDG and a letter from CLG Chief Planner, Steve Quartermain, urging local authorities to be pragmatic and realistic over deliverability of sites especially with regard to S106 requirements and viability.

Government response to EAC report “Greener Homes for the Future?”

The Government has this week published its response to the Environmental Audit Committee’s report, “Greener Homes for the Future?” The Government’s paper states that the upheaval in the financial markets since the summer has raised new challenges to the attainment of its short to medium term housing goals and that it has demonstrated determination to respond decisively to current housing market conditions without losing sight of its longer-term responsibilities to ensure that:

Housing supply is increased to meet growing demand, arising from this country’s household growth and to address long-term affordability issues;

We invest in higher standards, in particular mitigating climate change for the sake of future generations

These commitments underpin the Government’s response to the key recommendations made in the Environmental Audit Committee’s report.

Economic news

CML: First quarter figures suggest 75,000 repossessions this year now looks pessimistic

There were 12,800 repossessions by first-charge mortgage lenders (including buy-to-let) in the first quarter of this year, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders. This compares with 10,400 in the fourth quarter of last year, and 8,500 in the first quarter of 2008. Although repossessions are still rising, the CML now thinks its 75,000 forecast looks pessimistic for the year as a whole, and expects to revise the figure downwards in its next housing market forecast update.

Commenting on arrears and repossessions, CML Director General Michael Coogan said:

"Despite technical issues this quarter affecting our ability to compare arrears and possession rates with earlier periods, it is clear that mortgage arrears continued to increase. So did repossessions, but not as much as our 75,000 forecast figure for the year would suggest. So our forecast now looks pessimistic and we expect to revise it over the next month or so. Lenders are acutely conscious that behind the statistics are real people, many of whom are affected by the economic downturn and its impacts on unemployment, changes in circumstances and inability to refinance.

"Lenders genuinely want to help borrowers where borrowers are committed to working with them. It is quite clear that the number of arrears cases is rising far more markedly than the number of repossessions. Lenders are demonstrably increasing the forbearance they are offering, while many struggling borrowers have gained some breathing space through lower interest rates feeding through to lower monthly payments. The government has strengthened the benefits system, and while initiatives such as mortgage rescue and the home-owner mortgage support scheme are not appropriate for everyone, they have encouraged more borrowers to discuss their options with lenders and money advisers, which is helpful.

Industry news

London plan revision proposals published

The Mayor of London this week published his outline proposals to revise the London Plan. The London Plan (the spatial strategy for the capital) was originally adopted in 2004 and has been revised twice since then. The Mayor now proposes to carry out a more substantive review and has published a document, entitled A New Plan for London which will form the basis for his consultation with the London Assembly. A full public consultation will then take place after this.

While this is not a formal public consultation, the Mayor is still anxious to hear from interested stakeholders. If members have views, they should send them to the Mayor of London. Contact details can be found on page 26 of the document

HBF has produced a briefing that summarises the main changes proposed with regard to housing.

HCA and Metropolitan Housing Partnership: UK’s first zero carbon homes

HCA and Metropolitan Housing Partnership (MHP) have announced the first Code level 6* status for commercially built homes in the UK, seven years before the Government’s 2016 zero carbon target for housing.

The six houses which have received the status, at Upton in Northamptonshire, form part of a larger MHP housing development that is piloting a full range of eco technologies, distributed across all properties. The homes are available for outright sale, shared ownership and affordable rent and have been awarded BRE Code level 6* status under the Code for Sustainable Homes, which measures the overall sustainability performance against a wide range of environmental criteria including energy and water usage. Housing Minister Margaret Beckett said:

“Homes account for a quarter of the country’s carbon emissions so it’s essential we tackle this as part of our efforts on climate change.

“The Code for Sustainable homes is already helping house builders to cut carbon emissions from homes and from 2016 all new build homes will be zero carbon. It’s very encouraging that the Homes and Communities Agency and Metropolitan Housing Partnership are going faster than this by building homes to the highest levels of sustainability even now, and I congratulate them for being the first to do so.”

Part G of the Building Regulations: Enhanced hot water safety and efficiency measures for all new homes

All new homes will feature inbuilt protection from hot water scalding in baths and will use water more efficiently under measures announced by Housing Minister Iain Wright.

From October this year all new build homes will have protective devices fitted to baths to limit hot water temperature, and will need to meet a new minimum standard of 125 litres of water per person per day to improve water efficiency.

Iain Wright said:

"Hot water scalding in baths is a real risk particularly for groups like children and the elderly and the Government has been committed to finding a way of doing more to protect people from these injuries.

"The measures I announced today for all new build homes will limit the temperature of hot water in baths, which is where the vast majority of scalding injuries occur. This will really help to protect vulnerable people."

The main amendments to the Building Regulations are:

The requirement that baths in new homes are fitted with protective measures, such as a thermostatic mixing valve, to limit the temperature of the hot water;

A water efficiency standard of 125 litres per person per day for new homes;

Extending existing safety measures to all types of hot water systems (not just vented systems);

Setting out where greywater and harvested rainwater can be safely used.

Ministerial written statement: Blacklisting of trade unionists

Business minister Mr. Pat McFadden wrote this week that:

“The Government firmly believe that the blacklisting of trade unionists has no place in a modern system of employment relations. Individuals should not be systematically and secretly victimised for their trade union membership and for engaging in the activities of a trade union.

“Section 3 of the Employment Relations Act 1999 contains a power for the Secretary of State to introduce regulations prohibiting the compilation, dissemination and use of lists of trade union members or activists drawn up with the purpose of discrimination in relation to their recruitment and treatment by employers or employment agencies.

“We consulted on draft regulations in 2003 but they were not implemented. We took that decision because it was then widely believed that blacklisting of this type had been eradicated in the UK. Following the investigation of the Information Commissioner into the affairs of the Consulting Association (TCA) renewed evidence has come to light. The investigation showed that, within the construction industry, a covert vetting system has operated. My officials have worked closely with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) during its investigation and they have examined the detailed information which the ICO seized from the TCA. We have discovered that much of the information held by the TCA concerned the trade union activities of individuals and gave a very unfavourable account of their suitability for employment.

“In the light of these developments, the Government are minded to introduce regulations under section 3 of the 1999 Act. To ensure we have drafted them correctly and taken account of subsequent developments, BERR will launch a short public consultation early this summer seeking views on revised regulations. We will then seek parliamentary approval of the final draft regulations this autumn, bringing them into effect at the earliest opportunity thereafter. This abuse needs to be addressed as a matter of priority and our aim is to ensure that suitably drafted regulations are implemented with the minimum of delay.”

HBF News

South East Plan 2009

A briefing note for the South East Plan 2009, as adopted by the Secretary of State on 6th May 2009, has been prepared on behalf of HBF by Barton Willmore,

Please click here to view

Events

HBF Midlands AGM

Friday 12th June – Sketchley Grange Hotel, Hinckley, Leicestershire

The HBF Midlands Annual General Meeting and luncheon is being held at the Sketchley Grange Hotel, Hinckley, starting at 12.15 pm. This is an excellent chance for everybody working in the housing industry, at all levels, to review the previous year and forward plan for 2009, as well as networking with peers.

Please contact Marian MacDonald (020 7960 1605 or marian.macdonald@hbf.co.uk) for further details and booking information.

Zero Carbon, Part F and Part L – The cost and impact on housebuilders

Wednesday 20th May 2009 - Think Tank, Birmingham

With the consultations for Building Regulations Parts F & L and the zero carbon definition taking place this year, this conference will help housebuilders understand the impending changes and their cost and impact on the industry. It will also provide delegates with valuable and practical insight into the future of Building Regulations.

This full day event will specifically examine zero carbon, Part F and Part L over three morning sessions. The afternoon session will concentrate on the introduction of the new SAP methodology later this year with real life examples and a software demo. The conference will also analyse the real cost of sustainable housebuilding, looking at delivering to code level 3 and 4 and higher level schemes

To book online please click here or for further information please contact the events team on 020 7960 1646 or events@hbmedia.co.uk

‘New homes week 2009’

The New Homes Marketing Board has announced that it is proposing to hold ‘New Homes Week 2009’ between 14th and 20th September.

Like the previous New Homes Weeks in 2005 and 2006, which proved extremely successful, the objective of the week will be to promote the new homes market by highlighting the benefits of new build homes, which will hopefully result in increased visitor levels to sites and thus drive sales.

It is imperative that the New Homes Marketing Board and the Home Builders Federation assist its members in every possible way to drive sales in such challenging trading conditions.

Last year it was felt that the environment was just too turbulent to justify such a campaign, and whilst clearly a challenging environment remains, increased consumer interest dictates that every option should be explored to convert that interest in to reservations.

The campaign will be driven predominantly through the local media, and the NHMB will be developing stories around set themes for each day of the week to generate public interest.

As well as developing an overarching strategy, NHMB will be looking to link up with members on a local and regional level, and to support them to develop their own initiatives/ events throughout the week.

In order that members are fully aware of the proposals it is requested that the relevant member of staff emails nhw2009@hbf.co.uk and further details will be sent out shortly.

Hope Challenge: 12 - 14th June 2009, Peak District

HBF's nominated charity, Habitat for Humanity, which builds safe, decent homes for families living in poverty, is organising a fundraising event to take place in the summer. Taylor Wimpey, Bovis and HBF are amongst the teams already registered for the Hope Challenge 2009, and they are looking for more house builders to enter an event that was born out of industry activity. It is a challenge event for teams of 3-6 people that will test your initiative, your teamwork and your fitness. And by sleeping in your very own shelter you will experience some of the challenges faced by those who live in poverty housing. The event involves:

2 days and 2 nights in the great outdoors

Mental and physical team challenges

The Shelter Build challenge - sponsored by NHBC

1000m of hill ascent and 20 miles of trekking

A balance of fitness, strategy and team work

HFH is looking for teams of people who want to rise to the challenge of raising funds in support of the 2 billion people living in poverty housing around the world.

If you would like to sponsor the HBF team please click here

Click here for more information and entry requirements

For other HBF events visit the website http://www.hbf.co.uk/index.php?id=eventsandmeetings

For HBM events visit http://www.hbmedia.co.uk/

Rosie Hinchliffe

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