HBF Weekly News Summary Friday 14 September 2007

Top Stories this week - £500m cash boost to help families and first-time buyers - Select Committee Report calls on Zero Carbon Task Force - HIPs rolled out to three bedroom properties

Government News

Help for families and first-time buyers - £500m cash boost for house building councils

Housing and Planning Minister Yvette Cooper today unveiled a major £500m package of proposals to accelerate the building of homes for families and first-time buyers and ensuring both that new homes are greener and the focus is on brownfield land.

A major set of incentives, provided through the new Housing and Planning Delivery Grant (HPDG), will reward councils which speed up housing supply delivery and maximise the supply of building land in their areas.

Councils will be required to identify at least 5 years' worth of sites ready for housing and a further 10 years' worth for future development. A lack of suitable development land is often cited as the reason for blockage in the delivery of new homes. Yvette Cooper has made clear that, while many councils are ahead of the rest in delivering more good quality homes quickly, some are failing to be proactive enough in identifying the homes their communities need.

The Minister will propose that HPDG will be awarded to those councils which:

* deliver against their housing plans to meet local needs and meet agreed 'development timetables' to speed up new housing. The timetables will commit councils to set out clear and ambitious plans on the number and type of homes needed in a local area, including family homes; and

* identify banks of deliverable land suitable for new homes

The Minister also announced progress in delivering more green homes and more homes on brownfield sites. She revealed that 200 more disused public sector sites across the country have been identified as potential sites for housing and could contribute thousands of new homes. This brings the total of brownfield sites being assessed for development suitability to more than 750.

She also revealed an enthusiastic response to the Government's challenge to the house building industry for all new homes to be zero carbon by 2016. Over 150 organisations, including house builders, green groups and local councils, have now put their names to the 2016 Commitment to work together to build 240,000 new zero carbon homes a year within a decade. 152 signatories, including the Home Builders Federation, Local Government Association, Green Building Council and WWF as well as individual developers and councils have now 'taken the green building pledge' and signed up to the Commitment.

She additionally announced that the body which will drive forward the Government's plans for housing growth will be called the Homes and Communities Agency. This reflects its role in delivering new homes and in regenerating existing and creating new communities. The agency, as announced by the Prime Minister in his legislative programme statement on 11 July, will be at the heart of Government's plans for delivering these targets and ensuring the creation of thriving communities through regeneration and renewal.

Select Committee report calls on Task Force to report on steps to achieve zero carbon standard

The House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee have today published a second set of findings on Climate change. The second report titled ‘climate change: the citizen's agenda’ examines how the ordinary citizen can change his or her lifestyle to minimise the impact of climate change and to mitigate its effects.

The report calls on the Government to advance the timetable for achieving a new build zero carbon standard and calls on the Zero Carbon Taskforce to report on steps to achieve zero carbon homes: -

'The Government must set out a clear timeline delineating the proportion of all new housing stock which will be built as ‘zero carbon’ homes on a year by year basis. We further recommend that the 2016 Zero Carbon Homes Taskforce incorporates within its terms of reference the intention to report on steps to be taken to achieve ‘zero carbon’ homes as soon as possible. The Government must not only require all new houses to be built to a ‘zero carbon’ standard well before 2016, but must ensure that existing regulations are rigorously enforced.'

View full report

HIPS – 3 bedroom homes now included and new information shows average 4 bedroom homes have an ‘E’ energy rating

CLG announced that from Monday, all homes in England and Wales marketed with 3 or more bedrooms will require a Home Information Pack (HIP).

As well as this announcement the Government also released new information six weeks after the launch of EPCs and HIPs which shows that average four bedroom homes are getting an ‘E’ energy rating or below and could save hundreds of pounds off heating, lighting, and water bills.

Read the full announcement >

Three bedroom homes market will be affected by HIPs, says NAEA

As the Government launches the second phase of its home information packs (HIPs) initiative, the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) has warned that the three bedroom homes market is likely to suffer as a consequence.

The Association’s latest survey of members has revealed that following the first phase launch on the 1st August the number of four bedroom plus properties on the market decreased in many areas. 63% of agents reported decreases in the number of larger properties on their books over and above the seasonal norm. On average agents reported drops of 37%. Homeowners staying out of the market to avoid HIPs was cited as the main reason for the decrease.

Peter Bolton King, Chief Executive at the NAEA, comments: “Our concerns have always been that the introduction of HIPs would lead to a lack of supply following implementation. This does indeed seem to be the case with four bedroom homes and is now likely to be replicated in the three bedroom homes market. The next few months will prove crucial in seeing whether HIPs are going to cause the sort of problems we feared.”

HIPs: millions more homeowners to disguise bedrooms says Abbey

Will ‘study’ become code language for an extra bedroom?

When Home Information Packs (HIPs) launched late last month Abbey mortgages found that 4.5 million owners of homes with four or more bedrooms would consider calling their fourth and over bedrooms something else to avoid purchasing a HIP.

This week, as HIPs became applicable to three bedroomed homes, new research by Abbey Mortgages has found that four million more homeowners plan to follow suit. Indeed some 8.5 million people with three or more bedrooms said they would be prepared to market their home as a two bedroom home - and rename their third and over bedrooms.

Abbey’s research found that the most popular way to disguise a bedroom is as a study. However, they are warning homeowners against marketing their property as having a reduced number of bedrooms. They say with 89 per cent of Britons now using the Internet to search for properties, and 73 per cent using the number of bedrooms as a way of filtering out irrelevant properties from a search, people may also run the risk of being missed by potential buyers.

Conservative Blueprint for a green economy

The Conservative Quality of Life Policy Group, chaired by John Gummer and vice-chaired by Zac Goldsmith have released their final report.

The Group have spent 18 months developing an agenda to make Britain a world leader on green growth by:

- Using markets to help create positive change

- Helping individuals change their behaviour

- Making industry use resources more efficiently

They have outlined a series of proposals to reduce pollution and improve the wider environment and quality of life. Within the series of proposals includes plans to: introduce new strategic planning objectives for sustainable development, ensure zero carbon targets are enforced and monitored, make the Code for Sustainable Homes mandatory, create National Building Standards in place of Building Regulations, abolish HIPs and obligations to install smart meters to monitor energy use in the home.

View the final report >

HBF - New Conservative framework for sustainable communities needs to address land supply

Responding to the Conservative Party’s ‘Quality of Life challenge’ report in a press statement, HBF Executive Chairman, Stewart Baseley, said:

“The report contains some radical but creative ideas, and given the scale of unmet housing demand we’re currently facing, it is important to challenge orthodoxies in a constructive way.

“However, the question that remained unanswered was how to ensure adequate land supply to meet the housing demand and realise their vision. New, sustainable communities will only be possible with the speeding up of the planning system and the release of more new land for development.”

CPRE - Cameron's chance to show he means green

Commenting on the Conservative’s Quality of Life Report the CPRE issued the following statement:

‘Today’s report from the Quality of Life Policy Group is David Cameron’s chance to embrace a long-term environmental agenda and put meat on the bones of his green pronouncements. We hope he will support its direction and demonstrate that the Conservatives really are serious about environmental politics.’

Housing Market News

CLG figures report housing starts down, completions up

Figures from CLG have shown that private housing starts in England are on a downward trend. In the first half of 2007, private starts in England were 9% lower than a year ago. RSL starts are falling more steeply with a 14.4% decline in the first half of the year. By contrast, private housing completions in England rose to 8.9% in the first half on a year earlier.

Although these figures were published a couple of weeks ago, the Financial Times ran it as a lead story on Monday which triggered interest from other news programmes, including Radio 4.

View the full figures >

Radio 4 coverage:

John Stewart talked on the Radio 4 You and Yours Programme about the fall in house building starts in the first half of 2007, why this occurred and what were the solutions.

view full story

CLG House Price Index – July 2007

The latest house price index from the CLG was released this week showing:

-The mix-adjusted average house price in the UK in July 2007 stood at £218,479, up from £214,222 in June 2007 (not seasonally adjusted).

-UK annual house price inflation in July 2007 was 12.4 per cent, up from 12.1 per cent in June 2007. Annual house price inflation in London was 19.1 per cent in July, up from 17.5 per cent in June.

-The UK annual house price inflation rate for the 3 months to July was 11.8 per cent and 17.0 per cent in London.

View the full house price index >

RICS UK Housing Market Study

House price growth turned negative in August as demand slowed according to the RICS Housing Market Study released this week. The key findings from the August study are as follows:

-House prices growth turned negative for the first time since October 2005. 1.8% more Chartered Surveyors reported a fall than rise in house prices, down from 10.8 reporting a rise in July.

-New buyer enquiries declined for the ninth consecutive month and at the fastest pace since August 2004 with potential buyers remaining cautious as the effect of interest rate rises filters through.

-37% more Chartered Surveyors reported a fall than a rise in new buyer enquiries compared to 27% in May. New buyer enquiries fell across most regions as demand faltered.

- New instructions to sell property fell for the third month in succession. The stock of unsold property on surveyor’s books declined with levels down 10% on year ago levels. However, the ratio of completed sales compared to the stock of unsold property increased.

- The number of four-bedroom houses on the market have declined by 51% on year ago levels, possibly pushed by the August HIPS deadline.

View the full information

Economic News

Recent Economic Developments from the CBI

The Confederation of British Industry has reported the following economic developments:

-Official figures show that unemployment continues to decline, while wage growth remains subdued. Elsewhere, both producer input and output price inflation are broadly unchanged on an annual basis.

-Claimant count unemployment fell by 4,200 to 852,900 in August - the lowest level since April 2005. The ILO measure of unemployment fell by 28,000 over the three months to July to reach a level of 1.65 million. The ILO unemployment rate now stands at 5.4%, down 0.1% on the previous quarter.

-Headline average earnings growth excluding bonuses was 3.5% in the three months ending July, up 0.1% on June’s rate. The equivalent figure including bonuses was 3.5%, also up 0.1% on the previous month.

HBF News

HBF Consultation Response – Delivering Housing and Regeneration: Communities England and the future of social housing regulation

The above consultation response can now be viewed on the website by members of the HBF at the link below.

View consultation response >

Latest member information on the HBF website

Employees attending full time education

Was your business affected by the floods?

Health Screening and medical check ups

Red diesel trackers and dumper trucks

View information (member only) >

Innovate For Homes now on the web

Details of the Innovate For Homes scheme are now available on the HBF website. Set up by the HBF and Construction Products Association, the scheme is designed to facilitate the introduction of new and innovative products to the home building industry, particularly products which have energy saving and sustainable benefits. Successful entries have the chance to present to a panel of some of the UK’s leading home builders.

In addition to finding out about the scheme the website also details the members of the panel and provides information on the suppliers and products which have taken part in the scheme to date.

To find out more about the scheme

Visit the HBF and HBM stand at HB07 on 9th and 10th October

Visit the Home Builders Federation and Housebuilder Media at stand G9 at HB07 this year to hear the following live interviews:

Stewart Baseley – the challenges for the industry over the next 12 months

Dave Baker and NHBC – regulatory reform

Dave Mitchell and Malcolm Bell – zero carbon

John Stewart – the housing supply crisis

There will also be a chance to speak to the HBF policy experts and pick up the latest briefings and literature from HBF.

HBF Planning Conference a great success

Over 100 delegates attended the HBF Planning Conference this week in Milton Keynes. Sponsored by Barton Wilmore, the conference provided key information on new planning policy and practical advice from keynote speakers including Peter Ellis from CLG. The afternoon sessions consisted of a series of interactive Building for Life workshops run by CABE.

Bookings now being taken for the HBF Technical Conference

The HBF Technical Conference entitled ‘the road to zero carbon is paved with building regulations’ will be taking place at York Racecourse on Wednesday 14th November 2007.

To view the full agenda for the day and book online >

Housebuilding 2007 9-10 October, Islington Business Design Centre

Now in its fourth year, this Exhibition and Conference is a must for those working in the home building Industry. Housing Market Intelligence, the extensive free briefings and conference programme plus the exhibition, bring together key industry figures to highlight all that is new in the home building industry.

More information

Housing Market Intelligence 9 October, Housebuilding 2007, Islington Business Design Centre

The key information initiative for senior figures in the house building industry, HMI comprises an annual report launched at the conference, which this year aims to help delegates and readers 'Develop strategies in the face of rapid change'.

More information and to register

Wales News

Moves to build homes on flood sites in Wales are frozen

Permission to build homes near the scene of one of Wales’ worst floods has been frozen because the risk of a repeat disaster may be three times higher than previously thought.

More than 5,000 people were evacuated when severe flooding hit 3,000 homes and businesses in Towyn in Conwy 17 years ago, after waves breached the sea wall. Following that a 2004 study claimed the chance of a repeat event was one-in-200 years, but new data suggests the "tidal risk" might be as high as one-in-75 years.

Now the computer modelling of the risks involved will have to be re-run and in the meantime no new planning applications will be given the go-ahead, councillors have decided.