The Year of the Homeowner
Or so it would seem the Government hopes. This time of year is when journalists sit back down at their desks after the holidays and look for the next big story, the trends of 2016. January isn’t yet in double figures and Number 10 has already made several big housing announcements.
Firstly, the Government will directly commission and fast track new homes on public land, described in their own press release as not being seen ”on this scale since Thatcher and Heseltine started the Docklands regeneration”. The majority will be sold at market value, but up to 40% of them will be sold as starter. It is also intended smaller builders will benefit from direct commissioning, as it will provide a way for companies with fewer resources and without access to land to get to work.
Secondly, among announcements of a few new pots of money, there will be a £1.2bn starter home fund to prepare brownfield land. It is expected the fund will fast-track 30,000 market rate and 30,000 starter homes on 500 sites by 2020.
Finally, David Cameron and Zac Goldsmith co-authored a piece in the Evening Standard on Monday, where Cameron announced he has amended the Housing Bill to ensure that for every council house sold at least two affordable homes are built. Indeed, Dave calls it “Zac’s amendment”. The bill was voted through after a six hour debate that lasted until the early hours of Tuesday morning.
With one eye on the upcoming Mayoral contest, the Conservatives are setting up their credentials as the party of builders so Londoners will know to put their mark against Goldsmith’s name. It’s no secret that housing in the capital will be one of the top issues in the campaign, maybe even the biggest.
The mayoral race in the New Year
The start of the New Year has signalled intensification of the mayoral race. To mark this, Radio 4’s Today Programme has been running interviews with the candidates. Monday was Sadiq Khan and yesterday it was Zac Goldsmith’s turn. Khan had a better chance to set out his position and polices than Goldsmith whose interview was overshadowed by attempts to respond to Khan’s allegation that he is “playing the race card.”
The statistics favour Khan on paper. London is a predominately Labour city – Labour won 400,000 more votes than the Conservatives in May 2015. It can be said that Khan has a larger bank of voters to mobilise when it comes to the crunch in May. Only 9,200 Conservative Party members took part in the primary election to select Zac Goldsmith compared with the 80,000+ who took part in Labour’s contest. The Labour candidate is also bolstered by trade union support.
We await the arrival of the latest opinion poll to see what the latest snapshot is. But the Prime Minister’s housing initiatives alongside Zac this week demonstrate that Downing Street believe there is all to play for.
House prices gap between the capital and UK regions set to narrow this year
A new year brings new data on housing in the capital. The Nationwide Building Society has published its latest house price index for December 2015 and their report predicts that UK prices will rise by 3-6 per cent this year, but it questions whether the increasingly divergent regional house price performance will continue in 2016.
London house prices have been racing away from the national average in recent years. The region has performed the strongest for the fifth consecutive year and average annual house prices are up 12.2 per cent for the fourth quarter of 2015 on the previous year. This is compared to 4.5 per cent nationally.
Nationwide points to the correlation between growth in employment and house prices. Though gains in employment are high in the capital, affordability metrics are stretched. Nationwide have concluded that whether or not the increasing gap between London and other regions remains quite so staggering is an “open question” and “another year of above-average price gain appears unlikely”.
London housing will no doubt remain a salient topic in the coming months that lead up to the mayoral election.
Mini Shard divides opinion
Proposals for the £1billion regeneration of land near Paddington Station have been submitted to Westminster Council for consideration.
The plans include the creation of a 65 storey ‘mini shard’, which, if approved, will dominate the West London Skyline. The 225 metre tower has been designed by Renzo Piano, the same architect responsible for the Shard at London Bridge.
The scheme, dubbed ‘31 London Road’, is being brought forward by Sellar Property Group. The Group’s Chief Executive, Irvine Sellar, has not minced his words when describing the current state of the area around Paddington Station. Sellar has accused the area of not only being “lifeless and dull”, but a “throwback to a 1950s time warp.”
Sellar’s plans have not been well received by everyone. A number of local residents and businesses have raised concerns regarding the impact the tower will have on the levels of light reaching their property. Historic England have also objected to the proposals, claiming that the ‘mini shard’ will cause unacceptable harm to protected views – the height of the tower has in fact been increased since this objection was raised.
Regardless of the opposition, there is a significant clamour among certain circles within Westminster Council to see the regeneration proposals realised.