In the South East:
Fewer than 50% of the homes needed for local families are being built
The shortfall is costing 30,000 jobs
No of families on social housing waiting lists has rocketed 73% in a decade
Planning permissions have collapsed - down 42% in the last 5 years
Average house prices more than doubled in a decade from £112k to £229k
Around £135million of annual Government investment is being lost
New research released today reveals that house-building in the South East has plummeted by around 37% over the past 6 years from 30,410 starts in 2005/6 to just 19,060 in 2010/11 while official government projections reveal that number of households in the area is expected to increase by 39,480 annually – twice the current house-building level.
Planning permissions which can indicate the future levels of house-building do not show much improvement. Since 2006/7 the number of planning permissions granted in the South East has fallen 42% from 33,624 to just 17,683.
Average house prices in the area have more than doubled in the last decade, from £112,000 in 2000 to £229,000 – more than 8x average income - in 2010. A lower quartile house – those most often bought by first time buyers – costs £167,500 in the South East meaning that young families need to find around £30,000 deposit to get a foot on the property ladder.
Meanwhile, pressure on the area’s social housing is growing with the waiting list rising 73% from 129,924 families in 2000 to 225,250 families last year.
The report also reveals the financial rewards cities, towns and villages in the South East would receive from building the homes it clearly needs. The Government’s new incentive for house building, the New Homes Bonus, could see funding for the region increase significantly at a time when grants across all service areas are being slashed.
If enough homes in the South East were built to meet household projections the local authorities within would see around £135 million extra funding every year and more than 30,000 local jobs created.
Stewart Baseley, Executive Chairman at HBF said today:
“South East is suffering from a serious under supply of housing. It is crucial that more homes are built, particularly for younger families and first time buyers.
“On top of the obvious social benefits - increasing affordability and easing the pressure on social housing waiting lists - building the homes the area needs would create thousands of local jobs and bring in millions of pounds from central government.”
For media enquiries, or to arrange an interview, please contact Steve Turner on 020 7960 1606 / 07919 307 760 or steve.turner@hbf.co.uk
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Notes to Editors:
The Home Builders Federation (HBF) is the representative body of the home building industry in England and Wales. HBF’s members account for some 80% of all new homes built in England and Wales in any one year, and include companies of all sizes, ranging from multi-national, household names through regionally based businesses to small local companies: www.hbf.co.uk
Useful stats
Permissions for fewer than 34,000 new homes were approved in Q1 in England, compared with 40,000 in Q1 2010 and against a quarterly housing requirement of nearly 60,000 based on the Government’s household projections. In Q1 2006 over 60,000 permissions were granted by local authorities
1.8 million families (5 million people) are currently on Local Authority waiting lists in England.
FTBs aged between 22 and 29 have to save 45% of their take home pay every month for five years to afford a deposit
The number of households is projected to grow from 21.7m in 2008 to 27.5m in 2033, a rise of 5.8m (27%), or 232,000 per year. (DCLG Household Formation Projections.)
Jobs Calculator:
Each home built creates 1.5 full-time jobs -Michael Ball report
Increasing house-building by 130,000 units per year (to Government household projection levels) would create 195,000 jobs.
HBF estimates twice that number of jobs are created in the supply chain – close to 400,000 jobs.
Over the last three years, home builders have invested almost £1billion in shared equity schemes to help maintain housing construction whilst helping close to 30,000 first time buyers get a foot on the ladder.
HBF’s Housing Market Report (May’11) shows that 91% of house builders now see the lack of mortgage availability as a ‘major constraint;’ on their ability to sell, and thus build, homes
According to Government figures, even in its current crisis state, housing supply accounts for around 3% of UK GDP and provides between 1 and 1.25 million jobs in the UK.
In February, Local Authorities learnt for the first time how much they will receive from developing. Some will gain over £4M in New Homes Bonus whilst others will receive nothing. The figures also show that some Local Authorities will in future be missing out on up to £27M a year by scrapping previous plans for homes or not building enough to meet the needs of their communities.
The number of new homes completed in England in 2010 slumped 13% on the previous year – itself the lowest peacetime number on record since 1923.
18% of females and 29% males aged 20-34 still live with parents – ONS social trends Or; Over 1 million women and 1.7 million men aged between 20 and 34 are still living at home
Whilst over 80% of people believe Britain needs more homes, particularly for first time buyers, only 50% of people would welcome more homes in their area - NHMB survey, Nov 2010.
