HBF Wales Weekly News Summary Friday 7 March 2008

Top stories this week *HBF meet Caroline Flint....read more *February house prices fall but are higher than last year says Halifax *Bank of England maintains bank rate at 5.25%

Top stories this weekHBF meet Caroline Flint....read moreFebruary house prices fall but are higher than last year says Halifax.....read moreBank of England maintains bank rate at 5.25%....readQuick LinksWales NewsHBF NewsHousing Market NewsEconomic NewsGovernment NewsIndustry NewsEventsWales News  WAG releases 1st report of the Sustainability Committee's Inquiry into Carbon Reduction in Wales

The Sustainability Committee of the National Assembly has published the first report of its Inquiry into Carbon Reduction in Wales on Residential Carbon Reduction.

The report contains six 'headline' recommendations to the Welsh Assembly Government, including indications of the potential amount of household carbon that could be saved if each of the headline recommendations were adopted (in relation to 2005 figures). Headline and other recommendations contained in the report cover the areas of planning, new and existing buildings, behavioural changes, and targets.  The report supports devolution of building regulation powers to the Assembly Government.

The report is based on written and oral evidence gathered from a wide range of organisations, including local authorities, environmental bodies, and building and housing organisations.

More information

For a copy of the report please contact Richard Price, Planning and Policy Advisor - HBF Wales on 02920 646120 or richard.price@hbf.co.uk

Liquidation seems like the only solution for the troubled Cardiff Chamber of Commerce.

The debt-ridden chamber has been in trouble for months, but now it has been confirmed that liquidation is the only option.

Read more  

Following their initial telephone conversation at the time of her appointment, HBF Executive Chairman Stewart Baseley met new Housing Minister Caroline Flint for a first full discussion of the current main housing issues. HBF raised industry concerns about the growing cost of regulation and the recent Lifetime Homes announcement. The meeting also covered the Community Infrastructure Charge and zero carbon homes. It was agreed to follow up on the regulatory cost burden and the need for integration of the zero carbon homes objective with wider energy policy.

Bob Beaumont, Construction Director, Antler Homes Yorkshire is the winner of the HBF Weekly News Summary Survey Prize Draw, winning a selection case of wines.

Over 552 members completed the Weekly News Summary survey and the findings were very positive with 82% of members saying they read the survey each week and the majority saying they found the news content ‘useful' or ‘very useful'.

HBF will be examining the results in more detail to ensure that the Weekly News Summary is as helpful as possible to you and your business.

The HBF Fact Bank has been updated and can be accessed via the link below. The fact bank details the latest statistics relating to house building in the UK

View the facts 

The Halifax House Price Index for February reports the following:

View the House Price Index in full

The latest Lettings Survey from RICs shows that demand for rental properties continues to grow as landlords' yields increase.

16% more Chartered Surveyors reported a rise than a fall in tenant lettings, down from 20% in the last quarter. According to RICS, demand for family homes still remains stronger than for flats due to an oversupply of new build apartments. 23% more Chartered Surveyors reported a rise than a fall in demand for houses compared to 12% Chartered Surveyors who reported a rise in demand for flats, down from 15% last quarter.

However, access to the buy-to-let market became harder for would-be-landlords as mortgage products became scarce. New landlord instructions (an indicator of supply) declined for the first time in the survey's history (commenced 1998) - 1% more Chartered Surveyors reported a fall than a rise in landlord instructions compared to a 11% positive balance in the previous quarter.

View the full survey findings

The Nationwide Consumer Confidence Index fell by three points to 78 in February driven mainly by weakened confidence in the current economic situation.

The Present Situation Index (how consumers feel about the current economic and employment situation) saw the biggest fall of the four indices, from 83 in January to 76 in February. The proportion of consumers thinking that current economic conditions are bad has increased from a quarter to a third. In contrast, consumers' feelings about the current job situation remain virtually unchanged on the month.

Nationwide report that consumers expect house prices to fall by -1.1% over the coming 6 months, down from -0.2% in January.

View the full Consumer Confidence Index

The majority of housing markets slowed sharply or slid backwards across Europe during the second half of 2007 in response to inflation-induced interest rate rises, according to the European Housing Review 2008.

The prime cause, according to the report, has been the general rise in mortgage interest rates over the past 18 months. The knock-on effect of European Central Bank interest rate policies and general rises in interest rates have led to the noticeable slowing of Europe's housing markets.

The recent autumn credit crunch is yet to have significant impact, with household lending remaining fluid across the majority of Europe. The UK is one of the few countries to experience noticeable drops in borrowing levels. UK house prices were found to be the strongest of the big four recording 8% growth. Though the record from Autumn 2007 onwards has been one of gradually falling prices, anticipated interest cuts this year are expected to limit subsequent price falls.

View the full European Housing Review

The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee has voted to maintain the official Bank Rate paid on commercial bank reserves at 5.25%. The next review is on the scheduled for the 10th April 2008.

New Homes Marketing Board Chairman David Pretty CBE is again calling on the Government to scrap stamp duty for struggling first-time buyers in the March budget. He has also called for a National Homes Savings scheme and tax relief on parental contributions to be introduced

"As I have said many times in recent years, existing stamp duty levels are in need of major review and I urge the Chancellor to take the forthcoming budget opportunity to get rid of stamp duty for first time buyers'' says Mr Pretty. "It would be a welcome boost to hard-pressed youngsters and also to the wider housing market."

‘'I believe this stamp duty burden on young buyers needs to be tackled decisively, just as it has been recently in the Republic of Ireland."

Mr Pretty says the potential price benefits of the current market slowdown - which might normally ease the situation for young homebuyers - may well be largely cancelled out by the recent tightening of lending criteria and reduction in funds by lenders who consider first-timers a high risk group.

Today's first-time buyers, says Mr Pretty, are worse off than any previous generation and need even more help than just the scrapping of stamp duty.

"Apart from stamp duty relief, I would like the government to actively encourage saving for deposits - particularly important now that bigger deposits are required - and to take up my proposal to give tax relief on parental contributions to their children's homebuying efforts.

The government should also seriously consider introducing a ‘national homes saving scheme', he says, where aspiring first time buyers' are encouraged to start saving early for their deposit - as much as 5 years ahead - and their savings are boosted by a tax-free contribution from government. "A similar scheme was introduced in Australia only last month," said Mr Pretty.

For the full release please visit

In a press release issued yesterday, the Government highlighted that, according to results from research by Ipsos MORI, consumers were satisfied with the Home Information Pack (HIP) and are starting to use energy ratings to make their homes greener.

The research, looking at the HIP area trials, reveals that 72 per cent of sellers were satisfied with the HIP, 79 per cent agreed that it contained everything expected, and 81 per cent understood the documents, including their energy rating, from A-G, in the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC). Nearly one third of buyers on examining the HIP planned to carry out recommendations in the EPC to improve the energy efficiency of their home.

View the full release

The Conservatives highlighted other findings from the research, that:

Shadow Housing Minister Grant Shapps said: "These results reveal what we and the industry have known all along, HIPs are a complete waste of time. The buyers and sellers are telling the Government that the packs don't speed up the process, that they don't make it more efficient and that they don't help homebuying and selling."

For the Liberal Democrats, Lembit Opik commented:

"The Government has gone about this entire process the wrong way round.

"Even the Government's own research shows that HIPs aren't working as they should. Why weren't these facts made public before the national roll-out?"

For estate agents, NAEA Pre4sident Stewart Lilley said: "When we asked agents how many requests they had received to date to view the content of a HIP by a prospective purchaser, 68% replied that they've had no requests at all. Perhaps more tellingly, only 4% have received more than 10 requests."

The Government has published its response to English Partnerships' recommendations on policies to coordinate the redevelopment of brownfield land across England.

Formal adoption of the recommendations, announced by Under Secretary of State Iain Wright MP, paves the way for implementation of the first ever National Brownfield Strategy for England, designed to re-use over 52,000 hectares of previously developed, vacant or derelict land in support of Government ambitions to build 3 million new homes by 2020.

View full response

Alongside the Brownfield Strategy, a new national strategy designed to increase the number of regeneration professionals, and improve brownfield skills levels in support of government aspirations to build three million new homes, has been launched for public consultation by English Partnerships and the Academy for Sustainable Communities (ASC).

More information

The Communities and Local Government household projections have been updated. They continue to project an annual rate of household growth in England from 2004 to 2026 of 223,000 but there are changes in the regional projections.

Compared with the earlier projection London and the North East have a lower growth rate between 2004 and 2026 whilst the East, East Midlands, South West and South East have higher rates.

More online

A new report published by GLA and BPF calls for the creation of a brand-driven home rental market, similar the USA and Germany.

It recommends that affordable home levies on developments built specifically for rent should be cut, to make private rented development more viable for large institutions. Currently, residential letting is less attractive to investors because it means tying up money for longer and getting lower returns than with offices or retail.

The report, written by Savills, outlines how new planning guidance rental-only homes could lower house prices, increase housing investment and deliver new homes from branded rental providers.

View full report

In a statement reacting to the report HBF Executive Chairman Stewart Baseley said:

"A thriving private-rented sector is in the interests of both consumers and developers. However, using the planning system to distort the land market, and expecting local planning authorities to second-guess the demand for different housing tenures, is not the right approach.

"Housing affordability is a major concern for many households today, a situation largely created by decades of inadequate housing supply. The answer to unaffordable housing is for the planning system to bring forward more land for all housing, leaving decisions about tenure up to consumer preferences and market demand.

View full press release

HBF were also asked to comment on the report for BBC London TV News.

A public survey for countryside campaigners, the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) claims that there is little appetite among the public for the Government's house building plans.

The survey, conducted by ICM, claims the public oppose the Government's policy of building 3 million new homes by 2020 (53%), believe that so many extra homes will have a negative impact on communities (46%), and think the biggest winners of Government house building plans are property developers and landowners (50%).

View the survey in full

Reacting to the publication of an opinion poll by CPRE which claims 53% of people oppose the Government's house building plans, Executive Chairman of the Home Builders Federation Stewart Baseley says:

"The CPRE's poll shows them reverting to type - Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anyone."

"Claiming public opposition to housebuilding targets does absolutely nothing to ease the plight of hard-pressed first-time buyers or those without a home at all - the very people whose voice is not heard enough."

View full release

Taylor Wimpey has published its 2007 Preliminary Results Statement.

View full statement

A FREE seminar has been arranged by the Foreign Office in association with HBF and others to provide an opportunity for developers to meet Swedish experts in low/zero carbon technology and investigate possible research collaborations.

The seminar will be on 17 March 2008 at Friends' House, 173 Euston Road, NW1 2BJ

Confirmed speakers are:

More information will be available shortly but if you would like register please contact:

Heidi Hautajärvi: e-mail: heidi.hautajarvi@fco.gov.uk
or
Heledd Poole: e-mail: heledd.poole@fco.gov.uk

The closing date for registrations is 10 March and you are advised to book early as places are limited.

This black tie event will be held at Sketchley Grange, a prestigious Country House Hotel ideally located in a rural setting on the borders of Leicestershire and Warwickshire. The evening will commence at 7.30pm, for 8pm, with a delicious three course dinner and entertainment.

To book please contact the events team:
Email: events@hbmedia.co.uk  
Tel: 0207 960 1646 

Download Booking Form

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

For HBM events visit www.hbmedia.co.uk

Jo Weston