Friday, 9th October 2009 Top stories this week Conservative Party conference: HIPs and Regional Spatial Strategies to go.....read more HBF at the Conservative Conference.....read more Halifax house price index.....read more Fitch: House price rises only "temporary respite".....read more Bank of England: Credit conditions survey.....read more How did your New Homes Week go? Take the survey and enter to WIN an iPod nano.....read more Quick LinksWales news Government and political news Housing market news Economic news Industry news Events Wales news £34m to meet carbon-cutting targets A £34m programme to drive forward cutting-edge research to secure a low carbon future for Wales, create green jobs and help business to develop sustainable products and technologies has been announced by First Minister, Rhodri Morgan. The Low Carbon Research Institute Energy programme is aimed at meeting Welsh Assembly targets for reducing carbon dioxide emissions by exploiting the knowledge in Welsh universities and helping industry develop new products, technologies and services, turning them into commercial reality. As part of the programme, ground-breaking research projects will get underway in areas such as solar energy for heating buildings, hydrogen for powering transport, power generation using biomass and photovoltaic (PV) technology to generate electricity. The programme will also undertake cutting-edge research to develop zero carbon buildings and marine renewable energy sources. Backed with £15m from the Convergence European Regional Development Fund through the Welsh Assembly Government, the scheme will be led by Cardiff University in partnership with Glyndwr, Bangor, Swansea, Aberystwyth and Glamorgan Universities, who will also provide funding along with the private sector. Read more to top Respected AM backs Carwyn for leader Leadership contender Carwyn Jones has won the backing of one of the most respected members of Welsh Labour when former Finance Minister Sue Essex endorsed him. The Cardiff North AM said: “I worked alongside Carwyn for many years and saw at first hand, during the foot and mouth crisis, his judgement, courage and leadership on behalf of Wales at a very difficult time. I think it is worth remembering that at the last Assembly election, Carwyn was the only Labour member to increase his majority.” Read more to top People, priorities, partnership – WAG Draft Budget announced Andrew Davies, Minister for Finance and Public Service Delivery, has laid the Welsh Assembly Government’s Draft Budget for 2010-11, saying it involved “making tough decisions” but would improve the quality of life for people in Wales. And he called for “a Team Wales approach” to achieve maximum value for the Welsh pound. Read more to top Index of Production and Index of Construction for Wales: Quarter 2, 2009 The latest Index of Production and the Index of Construction for Wales show the short term movements in the output of industries in the production and construction sectors within Wales for the three months from April to June 2009. The release updates the statistics previously released on 9 July 2009. The key messages from the release include: The longer term trend for the Index of Production for Wales shows a fall of nearly 8% when comparing the latest twelve months to the previous twelve months. The UK figures show a similar pattern. The short term quarterly movements also show a fall; The longer term trend for the Index of Construction for Wales shows construction output has continued to fall over the last year. Short term quarterly movements in the construction industry indicate a rise of just over 2% in Wales, however it is too early to say if this will be sustained. Read more to top WAG: Local barriers to the delivery of affordable housing in rural Wales This report provides the findings and recommendations from a study commissioned by the Welsh Assembly Government to examine local barriers to the delivery of affordable housing in rural Wales and to identify key enabling factors and examples of good practice. Read more to top Government and political news Conservative Party conference: HIPs and Regional Spatial Strategies to go In their speeches to the Conservative Party's annual conference this week in Manchester, Shadow Communities Secretary Caroline Spelman and Shadow Housing Minister Grant Shapps both confirmed their intention to move quickly to abolish the current Regional Spatial Strategies and their housing targets if the Conservatives win the forthcoming general election. Mr Shapps also renewed his pledge to abolish Home Information Packs. At fringe meetings, spokesmen repeated that legislation on planning and housing was likely in the first annual parliamentary session under a Conservative Government. to top Grant Shapps aims for "a nation of homebuilders" Grant Shapps' speech recognised the need for more homes, but reiterated his belief in localism as a better means than regional targets of increasing supply - backed by his idea of encouraging housing delivery through a new financial incentive allowing local authorities to keep council tax receipts from new housing in their areas with this sum being matched by grant payments from national government for 6 years. He also said that local housing trusts would "give people the power to expand their villages by up to 10% over 10 years", backed street-level initiatives to regenerate areas, confirmed plans for a new "right to move" for social tenants and pledged to scrap density targets. He summarised his views as being: "We want to create nothing less than a nation of homebuilders… … So we’ll give you the tools… the incentives… and the power to build. And in return, we will share the heavy responsibility for results; Not through targets or bureaucracy, but with a simple measure of success; building more homes together." Read more to top HBF at the Conservative Conference The HBF and the Construction Products Association hosted an informal dinner discussion with Conservative MPs and councillors in Manchester and Director of External Affairs John Slaughter held separate meetings with Shadow CLG Ministers Bob Neill and Stewart Jackson, key policy advisers and parliamentary candidates for the forthcoming election - joined at some of these by HBF members who were visiting the conference. The meetings generally confirmed the depth of support for localism and the potential importance of the Conservatives' further promised policy green paper on planning in filling in details of how their approach might work. It is hoped to publish this new policy paper later this autumn. to top ....and in the media Alongside the conference, John Slaughter also took part in a live discussion with Grant Shapps from Manchester on housing and Conservative policy on BBC Radio 4's You and Yours programme on Wednesday. Listen again (disscussion starts at 27:49) to top Housing market news Halifax house price index The latest Halifax house price index, published this week, reported that: The average house price rose by 1.6% in September, to £163,533. This was the third consecutive monthly increase and the fifth so far in 2009; House prices increased by 2.8% in Quarter 3. This was the first quarterly rise for two years (2007 Quarter 3) and the biggest since 2007 Quarter 1 (2.9%); The UK average house price in September was 1.7% (£2,672) higher than at the end of 2008. Prices have risen by 5.9% since reaching a trough in April 2009; an increase in the average price of just over £9,000. The national average price is currently at a similar level to that in mid 2005; House prices in September were 7.4% lower on an annual basis. The annual rate of change (measured by the average for the latest three months against the same period a year earlier) has fallen markedly from a low of -17.7% in April. It is at its lowest since June 2008 (-6.1%); Housing market activity has picked up in recent months but remained low on an historical basis. The number of house sales in England and Wales has increased during 2009 with the annual rate of decline improving from a low of -64% in November 2008 to -17% in June 2009, according to the Land Registry. Bank of England industry-wide figures show that the number of mortgages approved to finance house purchase – a leading indicator of completed house sales – has almost doubled from 27,400 in November 2008 to 52,300 in August 2009, on a seasonally adjusted basis. Approvals in August 2009, however, were 51% lower than in August 2007 (106,770). Commenting, Martin Ellis, housing economist, said: "The combination of increased demand and a low level of properties available for sale has pushed up house prices in recent months. The marked improvement in affordability due to the reduction in both property prices and interest rates since mid 2007 has been a key factor in stimulating higher demand. “Continuing increases in unemployment and low earnings growth are likely to constrain the rise in demand. There are also some signs that the improvement in market conditions is encouraging more people to put their properties up for sale. This development could loosen market conditions by alleviating the current shortage of supply and curb the pace of house price growth evident in recent months.” Read more to top Fitch: House price rises only "temporary respite" Fitch, the ratings agency, has said that recent house price rises are only a “temporary respite” and prices are likely to fall again. The agency predicted that UK houses would fall approximately 30% overall from their 2007 peak. Currently, prices are 13% down. The expected drop is related to the average house price to income ratio as well as other factors: “The UK’s average house price to income ratio remains significantly higher than the long term average,” explained Brian Coulton, head of global economics and EMEA Sovereigns at Fitch Ratings. “A 30% fall from the peak of October 2007 would bring this ratio back in line with the long term average. In comparison, the house price declines in the recession of the early 1990s saw the average house price to income ratio fall below the long term trend.” Fitch also warned that rising unemployment and low wage inflation were yet to impact UK house prices, and unemployment could destroy the recent easing in credit availability as well as low interest rates which have made mortgages more affordable. From discussions with large high street lenders, Fitch also said that the majority of lenders had introduced various policy changes, making lending even more difficult. to top NAEA: Recovery must be extended into second phase Lenders must do more to help facilitate the second phase of housing market recovery, the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) said this week. The NAEA’s monthly market report showed that demand for property has returned to the housing market, particularly among first time buyers. NAEA President Gary Smith called on the Government to consider extending the stamp duty holiday in the same way as it has done with the car scrappage allowance scheme. He said that first time buyers are usually the foundation of sales chains – so any cost of extending the holiday will be heavily outweighed by additional stamp duty and VAT revenues generated further up the chains. The NAEA’s monthly trends report revealed how the market bounced back in September after a slight seasonal dip. The number of people registered to look for property increased from 238 per branch in August to 294 in September, while the number of sales made increased from eight to nine. The number of first time buyers remained strong – making up 26 per cent of new sales, while the level of housing stock dipped slightly from 62 houses on sale per branch in September, dropping from 64 in August. Read more to top Economic news Bank of England: Credit conditions survey In this survey conducted by the Bank lenders are asked about the past three months and the coming three months. The survey covers secured and unsecured lending to households and small businesses; and lending to non-financial corporations, and to non-bank financial firms. This latest report presents the results of the 2009 Q3 survey, conducted between 21st August and 11th September. The key findings included: Supply While a small net balance of lenders reported that they had reduced the availability of secured credit to households in the three months to mid-September 2009, some increase in overall credit availability was expected over the next three months; Unsecured credit availability to households was reported to have been reduced a little, with further reductions anticipated over the next three months; Corporate credit availability had increased over the past three months, driven by improvements in the cost and availability of funds to banks. A further increase in corporate credit availability was expected. Demand Demand for secured lending for house purchase was reported to have increased, but lenders expected it to decline somewhat over the next three months. Demand for secured lending for remortgaging had stabilised, with increases anticipated over the next quarter; Demand for credit by private non-financial corporations had increased in line with expectations for medium-sized companies, but had fallen slightly for larger companies. An increase in corporate demand was anticipated over the next three months by a net balance of lenders. Read more to top Bank of England maintains Bank Rate at 0.5% and continues with £175bn Asset Purchase Programme The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee voted this week to maintain the official Bank Rate paid on commercial bank reserves at 0.5%. The Committee also voted to continue with its programme of asset purchases totalling £175bn financed by the issuance of central bank reserves. The Committee expects the announced programme to take another month to complete. The scale of the programme will be kept under review. The minutes of the meeting will be published at 9.30am on Wednesday 21st October. Read more to top Industry news Environment Agency: H1 Environmental Risk Assessment Consultation The Environment Agency is seeking views on the revised H1 Environmental Risk Assessment guidance on how to assess health and environmental risks when applying for a bespoke permit under the Environmental Permitting Regulations (EPR). The Environment Agency is revising the March 2008 version of the H1 guidance to include activities being brought into the EPR in April 2010; water discharge consents, groundwater authorisations and radioactive substances regulation. Consultation closing date: 23rd December 2009 The consultation package contains the following documents: H1 Environmental Risk Assessment Consultation Draft H1 guidance Response form Read more to top Events Housing Market Intelligence Conference – LAST FEW DAYS LEFT TO BOOK! Savoy Place, London -Tuesday 13th October 2009 Housing Minister John Healey has now been confirmed as a speaker for October’s HMI Conference completing a heavy weight line up of expert speakers for the industry’s leading annual policy conference. Confirmed speakers now include: John Healey MP, Housing Minister Grant Shapps MP, Shadow Housing Minister Sir Bob Kerslake, Homes & Communities Agency Stewart Baseley, HBF Michael Coogan, Council of Mortgage Lenders John Stewart, HBF Imtiaz Farookhi, NHBC For further information or a booking form please contact the events team on 020 7960 1646 or visit www.house-builder.co.uk to top How did your New Homes Week go? Take the survey and enter to WIN an iPod nano We are currently reviewing the work undertaken for New Homes Week and would appreciate your feedback and comments on the work carried out by the New Homes Marketing Board and the success of the week itself. This will enable us to make a more informed decision on the format of any future such initiatives. *All completed surveys returned by the 9th October will be entered into a prize draw to win the new apple iPod nano 8gb. The survey is short and simple and takes just a couple of minutes to answer. Please click here to complete the survey. Alternatively, if you would prefer to fill out the survey by hand please click here to print off the PDF and return either by post or fax. We will be contacting you separately with regard to the new-homes.co.uk portal, which will remain free of charge to participating companies for the time being. To ensure your feedback reaches us please complete by 9th October. The winner of the prize draw will be announced via email on 12th October. to top Housebuilding Innovation Awards 2009 - BOOK NOW! 4 weeks left to book and limited spaces available. Housebuilder Media is delighted to announce that Gyles Brandreth, broadcaster, journalist and ex MP, will be presenting at the Housebuilding Innovation Awards on Thursday 5th November 2009. The shortlist for the Awards was unveiled earlier this month, and reveals the outstanding innovative achievements the industry has made in the past year. Click here for full details The Awards, which are supported by the Government, have become among the most sought after in the industry as they recognise excellence in innovation in all aspects of the housebuilding business. The culmination of the Awards is the announcement of the housebuilding firms deemed to be the overall Innovators of the Year –previous winners have included Redrow, Barratt, Explore Living and Midas. The winners will be announced at a glittering black tie awards ceremony on Thursday 5th November at the Millennium London Mayfair Hotel. For further information or a booking form please contact the events team on 020 7960 1646 or visit www.house-builder.co.uk to top HBF Annual Technical Conference 2009 – The TechnoCentre, Coventry The Building Regulatory Agenda – from here to 2016 Wednesday 18th November 2009 The conference aims to look at the forthcoming amendments to the Building Regulations, addressing CLG’s policy overview and in particular concentrating on the recent Parts F & L consultation. Expert speakers from CLG, BRAC, NHER, Zero Carbon Hub and BRE will be there to answer your questions on all building regulation issues. For further information please visit www.house-builder.co.uk or contact the events team on 020 7960 1646 to top WHAT HOUSE? Awards 2009 – gala presentation luncheon Tickets and tables are now available for the 2009 What House? Awards, taking place at London's Grosvenor House Hotel on Friday 20th November. The event is one of the highlights of the house building calendar, as the industry meets to salute the best new homes in Britain. To book your seats for this prestigious event please email Derek Smith. Or download a booking form at www.whathouse.co.uk/awards to top For other HBF events visit the website http://www.hbf.co.uk/index.php?id=eventsandmeetingsFor HBM events visit http://www.hbmedia.co.uk/ to top Rosie Hinchliffe/Steve Turner View Previous Weekly News Summary
