Friday, 10th July 2009 Top stories this week Media seek HBF views on housing position......read more CML: Tightening in lending criteria abates.....read more Halifax house price index.....read more CPA: Sharp deterioration in prospects for construction industry.....read more Government publishes White Paper on reform of financial regulation.....read more Publication of report of inquiry into construction fatalities .....read more Quick Links HBF news Economic news Housing market news Industry news Government and political news Events HBF news Media seek HBF views on housing position Media interest in housing was rekindled this week in the light of the company trading statements issued. HBF Executive Chairman Stewart Baseley was asked for his views on BBC 1’s Breakfast show this morning and John Slaughter took part in a “housing special” edition of Radio 4’s “You and Yours” yesterday and was interviewed for today’s Radio 5 Live breakfast programme. HBF noted the encouraging signs of the market stabilising and underlined the importance of action to improve the availability of mortgage finance to sustain these. Stewart Baseley - interview (snippet) You and Yours - Thursday 9 July 2009 Radio 5 Live - Breakfast show - 10 July 2009 (starts 1:48:00) to top Economic news Bank leaves rates on hold At its monthly meeting on 9 July, the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee yesterday voted 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 £125 bn financed by the issuance of central bank reserves – quantitative easing. The Committee expects that its current quantitative easing programme will take another month to complete and will review the scale of the programme again at its August meeting, alongside its latest inflation projections. The minutes of yesterday’s meeting will be published at 9.30am on Wednesday 22 July. Read more to top CML: Tightening in lending criteria abates New estimates from the Council of Mortgage Lenders suggest that a higher proportion of young first-time buyers than ever before are getting help from parents to enter the market. But more positively, the CML's latest data shows signs that lending criteria stopped tightening in May. Since reaching a record 25% in February, the average first-time buyer deposit has remained unchanged. And the typical first-time buyer income multiple has held at 2.97 from April. Home movers typically borrowed 67% of the value of the property in May, unchanged from April, and borrowed 2.68 times their income, up from 2.63 in April. The CML predict that we might expect to see a modest easing in these measures over the summer, as some higher loan-to-value products came on to the market in recent months and lenders reported that they intend to increase lending at higher loan-to-value ratios in the Bank of England’s recent Credit Conditions Survey. The number of loans for house purchase edged up 4% from April to 37,400 (worth £4.7bn), but this is 28% lower than the number of loans in May 2008. House purchase lending is still depressed by historical standards: in the last seven years the May average was 96,000 house purchase loans. First-time buyer numbers were little changed with 14,000 loans worth £1.5 billion in May, compared with 13,700 loans worth £1.5 billion in April. Read more to top Housing market news Halifax house price index The Halifax house price index reported this week that: House prices declined by 0.5% in June. The mixed picture of monthly rises and falls so far this year contrasts sharply with the consistent succession of significant monthly declines recorded in 2008. This indicates that the underlying rate of decline in house prices has eased. House prices declined by 1.9% in Quarter 2. This was the smallest quarterly fall since 2008 Quarter 1 and was significantly less than the 5-6% declines in the last three quarters of 2008. The UK average price has returned to where it was five years ago in 2004 Quarter 2 (£157,091). House prices in June were 15.0% 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) improved for the second successive month and compares with -17.7% in April. The annual rate of decline was at its lowest since November 2008. Increased demand, combined with a low level of properties available for sale, has helped to stabilise activity and reduce the underlying rate of house price decline in recent months. The ratio of house sales to the stock of unsold properties on surveyors' book rose for the fifth consecutive month in May, indicating a tightening in market conditions, according to the latest RICS monthly survey. Lower interest rates have boosted affordability. Monthly repayments accounted for an estimated 21.6% of average gross household income in June 2009 for existing mortgage borrowers. This compares with a peak of 26.9% in October 2008 and is the lowest proportion of income devoted to mortgage repayments since mid 2004. The decrease in the average mortgage rate paid by existing borrowers from 5.82% in October 2008 to 3.59% in May 2009 (source: Bank of England) is the main driver of this reduction. The long-term average for income accounted for by mortgage repayments is 20.4%. Commenting, Martin Ellis, Housing Economist, said: “There are further indications of a modest improvement in sales activity, albeit at a very low level. Industry-wide figures show that the number of mortgages approved to finance house purchase increased for the fourth successive month in May. Approvals were at their highest level since April 2008 and 10% higher than a year earlier. “Improvements in affordability and low interest rates have stimulated housing demand. This, together with a low level of properties available for sale, has helped to stabilise activity and reduce the underlying rate of house price decline in recent months. “Whilst there have been encouraging recent signs of improvement, the outlook for the UK economy remains uncertain with unemployment set to continue rising for some time. “Overall, we expect to see a continuing mixed pattern of monthly house price rises and falls over the remainder of 2009." Read more to top Industry news CPA: Sharp deterioration in prospects for construction industry The outlook for the construction industry has deteriorated sharply over the last three months according to the latest forecasts from the Construction Products Association. According to these forecasts, output will fall by a record 16% in 2009, compared with the April forecast, which indicated a fall of 12%. Prospects for 2010 have also declined with the Association now forecasting a further fall of 5% compared to the previous forecast which showed a fall of 3.4%. The Association does not now expect any significant increase in construction output until 2012 and by the end of the forecast period in 2013 the industry will have recovered only to the levels of output achieved in 1999. Commenting on the forecasts, Construction Products Association Chief Executive Michael Ankers said: “Prospects for the industry have deteriorated significantly over the last three months with new orders for construction work falling at a record rate. This year we expect the industry to suffer its largest fall ever experienced in a single year and with a further fall in output in 2010, output will have fallen faster in these two years than in any of the previous post war recessions. “Although the private sector housing market has experienced some small improvement over the last few months, such is the scale of the downturn that we are still only forecasting there will be 72,000 new houses built this year, the lowest figure since 1924 and over 20% below the number started in 2008. The sharpest falls in output are in the commercial and industrial sectors with investment in new office, retail and industrial building having come to an abrupt halt. Output on commercial work will have fallen by more than 40% in just two years.” Read more to top NHPAU Annual Report: More homes for more people - building the right homes in the right places The National Housing and Planning Advice Unit (NHPAU) has published its second annual publication looking at the current state of the nation's housing market, the changes seen over the last year and how the NHPAU should evolve to further support Government, regions and local planning bodies going forward. “More Homes for More People: Building the Right Homes in the Right Places” seeks to step back and ask how we got to where we now are. It also looks at what the recession and the credit crunch mean for medium and long-term housing requirements. Click here to download a copy The National Housing and Planning Advice Unit's third annual survey of the public's attitudes on the affordability of market housing in England was also published this week. The survey was conducted by YouGov and provides an up-to-date view of the housing market as seen by both homeowners and non-homeowners. Click here to download a copy to top New practice guide about updating deeds The Land Registry has published a new guide where deeds lodged for registration require correction or alteration. It also gives advice about how to deal with the different situations that can arise. A completed deed sometimes needs to be altered if the owners (or their successors) decide that its effect should be changed. For example, there may be a clerical or other error in the drafting of the original deed that is not spotted until after it has been completed. Or if the circumstances on which the original deed was based have changed, the owners may decide that the effect of the deed should be altered to reflect the change. Practice Guide No 68 - Amending deeds that effect dispositions of registered land outlines the procedures that need to be followed where the original deed has already been registered, and distinguishes these from where the deed has not been lodged for registration, or where the application to register it has not yet been completed. The guide also advises practitioners about situations where a later deed, drawn up for the purpose of correcting or altering an original deed that has already been registered, needs to follow one of the prescribed forms of transfer and/or comply with other specific requirements of the 2002 Land Registration Act and Rules. Read more to top Top architects and housing experts to think up age friendly homes of the future Top architects and specialists including Sir Richard MacCormac and Professor Anne Power are amongst those being asked by Government to look at how homes of the future can meet the needs of our ageing population. The experts will make up a new Innovation Panel which will gather good practice from across Europe and put together new and creative proposals. Chaired by Lord Best, the Panel will speak to residents and housing experts before embarking on an intense period of research over the summer. Announcing the members of the new Innovation Panel, Junior Housing Minister Ian Austin said: "This is about ensuring that the housing we are building for older people reflects the aspirations and lifestyles of people today. I want to see us creating places where people want to live, and enabling older people to make the best choices for themselves about where and how they want to live. "I would like to congratulate all the members on their appointments and look forward to hearing their ideas and proposals, in the autumn." Read more to top Shelter: “Ground breaking new ideas on housing delivery” Shelter have this week published a document entitled “Breaking ground: New ideas on housing delivery” in reaction to the current economic downturn. Shelter state that the impacts of the credit crunch and the recession on the housing market are being felt across the country, from job losses in the construction industry, to a dramatic fall in house building and that behind these headlines are the individual stories of people having their homes repossessed, struggling to find a decent, affordable home, or suffering in overcrowded or temporary accommodation. Shelter have asked leading figures in the housing sector to think about two issues: what new delivery models might supply more homes and help balance out the instabilities of the housing market, and how the housing sector needs to work together to implement these new models. This publication highlights a number of possible answers to these questions. David Pretty CBE, Chairman of the New Homes Marketing Board, is among those who contributed their views. Read more to top Government and political news Government publishes White Paper on reform of financial regulation Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling this week published the Government’s 'Reforming Financial Markets' White Paper on proposed reform of the system of financial regulation. The White Paper sets out the Government’s proposals for seeking to prevent the recurrence of the events that led to the credit crunch and last autumn’s banking crisis, with more emphasis put on the risks financial firms can present to the economy and greater protections for consumers. They include: New plans for the FSA to place higher capital requirements on firms that present greater risks to the system and measures to deal with the potential failure of institutions that could have a significant impact on the economy Steps to help consumers make better informed choices, including a national money guidance service funded by a levy on the financial sector and a new independent consumer education body; A strengthened framework for financial stability, to deal with system-wide risks in today’s more complex and global markets. This will include legislating to set up a new Council for Financial Stability - which will bring together the Bank of England, the FSA and the Treasury to monitor system-wide financial stability and respond to long-term risks as they emerge. Alistair Darling said: "Our economy has a clear need for well managed, well functioning banks and financial institutions - to perform a vital set of functions - channelling investment and helping people save and plan for the future. But regulators and governments too must learn from the events of the last two years - better understanding the risks that come from rapid globalisation in the financial system “Our central objective must be to ensure that - as we come through the downturn - we reform and strengthen our financial system and rebuild it for the future. With consumers that are better informed, financial institutions that are better managed, and markets that are better regulated.” Read more and access the White Paper to top Publication of report of inquiry into construction fatalities The Department for Work and Pensions this week published the report of an inquiry into fatalities in construction carried out by Rita Donaghy at the Secretary of State’s request The report entitled “One Death is too Many” makes 27 recommendations including that: Building regulations should be extended so that health and safety processes should be included when considering building control applications or building warranties The remit of the Gangmasters Licensing Regulations should be extended to include construction or an alternative regulation to the same effect introduced There should be positive duties on directors to ensure good health and safety management through a framework of planning, delivering, monitoring and reviewing The recommendations also deal with the role of trade unions in promoting health and safety. In a Written Statement to parliament, the new Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Yvette Cooper, said that the Government will consider the report over the summer and discuss it with stakeholders before responding later in the year. In the first instance, we will be discussing the report with members of the HBF Health and Safety Committee at its meeting next week. Read more to top Blacklisting of trade unionists: Consultation on revised draft regulations The Department for Business Innovation and Skills has published a consultation document proposing the outlawing of the blacklisting of trade unionists following the Information Commissioner’s investigation earlier this year of The Consulting Association (TCA). Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said, “Blacklisting someone because they are a member of a trade union is totally unacceptable. “I am determined to act quickly to stamp out this despicable practice.” The main proposals are: to make it unlawful for organisations to refuse employment or sack individuals as a result of appearing on a blacklist; to make it unlawful for employment agencies to refuse to provide a service on the basis of appearing on a blacklist; and to enable individuals or unions to pursue compensation or solicit action against those who compile, distribute or use blacklists. Subject to the consultation, the Government plans to implement regulations introducing these measures in the autumn. The consultation regarding the draft regulations will run to 18th August 2009 and HBF will be seeking members’ views in relation to this. Please contact John Slaughter – john.slaughter@hbf.co.uk – if you would like to be involved. Read more to top Mayor of London: No more 'hobbit homes' in London The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has published guidance on the design of all new publicly funded homes built in the capital from 2011. The guidance sets new minimum standards to meet his commitment to improve the quality of new homes and consequently the quality of life for Londoners. The Mayor launched the London Housing Design Guide, for consultation, in Croydon, at a conference organised to discuss his London Housing Strategy, published in May. The guide sets out six key areas of design that new developments will have to address. The new guide also consolidates existing design standards to reduce the burden on housing developers, cutting the number of requirements they must refer to from over 300 to 90, as well as on the public purse, and could eventually be applied to private sector homes once incorporated as policy in the revised London Plan. The Mayor said: “For too long we have built homes to indecently poor standards - fit neither for Bilbo Baggins nor his hobbit friends - and that is indefensible. The finest city in the world deserves the finest housing for its inhabitants and when we get it wrong it can scar generation after generation.” Read more to top Events New Homes Week 2009 – get involved! Preparations are now well underway for New Homes Week 2009 that will take place between 12th 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 to consumers by highlighting the benefits of new build homes, which will hopefully result in increased visitor levels to sites and thus drive sales. The New Homes Marketing Board and HBF will be producing a range of literature and marketing materials – including a 16 page colour glossy newspaper - and is encouraging members to get involved and organise events on their sites across the country. For more information and to get involved contact nhw2009@hbf.co.uk. to top The Housebuilding Innovation Awards The shortlist for the prestigious Housebuilding Innovation Awards has now been announced. For full details go to http://www.house-builder.co.uk/awards/ 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 winners will be announced at a glittering black tie awards ceremony on Thursday November 5 at the Millennium London Mayfair Hotel. Tickets will shortly be available to book. For further information please contact the events team on 020 7960 1646 or visit www.house-builder.co.uk to top Delivering energy provision in sustainable development Davies Arnold Cooper LLP & the Home Builders Federation (HBF) are holding a seminar on delivering energy provision in sustainable development on the morning of 14 July in London. The seminar will include a Question and Answer session with a leading panel of experts. The seminar will cover essential guidance and will include the following: Regulation – zero carbon consultation, what is coming on the horizon? Delivery – what works and on what scale? Legal What are the challenges in blending energy delivery and housing? Delivery: limitations of the property law system, how to extract maximum value Consumer choice: implications of Citiworks The ESCO and Consultants’ perspective – what developers need to know Please click here for further information and booking details to top HBF Annual Planning Conference 2009 – Staverton Park, Daventry Planning viability 15th September 2009 In the current economic crisis much has been discussed about fiscal policy and incentives but what of planning policy in these challenging times? Is it business as usual or is the current model broken? The 2009 HBF Planning conference will seek to address this and more. Click here for booking details or contact kellie.kent@house-builder.co.uk to top Housing Market Intelligence Conference – Savoy Place, London Tuesday 13th October 2009 The industry’s leading business strategy and planning conference and launch of the seventh annual Housing Market Intelligence Report. Confirmed speakers include: John Healey MP, Housing Minister – invited 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 A booking form will shortly be available but for further information please contact the events team on 020 7960 1646 or visit www.house-builder.co.uk to top 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/ to top Rosie Hinchliffe View Previous Weekly News Summary
