The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) launched a market study into the £20 billion per annum UK house building industry. The study will allow the OFT to consider the potential competition within and consumer concerns about the market, and will focus on two principal areas:
Delivery of housing - whether land that is suitable for development is being effectively brought through to the planning approval stage, and whether land with planning permission is being converted effectively into homes; and
Customer satisfaction - the level of homebuyer satisfaction with the properties available.
For many people, buying a house is the largest purchase they will ever make. The study will look for ways to improve their experience of buying a new-build home as well as the quality of those homes.
Following the recommendations of the Barker Review of Housing Supply 2004, the OFT has been monitoring the house building market and is concerned it may not be working well for consumers. The OFT will be working with the industry, and the study will complement other reviews across government to minimise the burden on the sector. The study, however, will not look at the overall question of where development should occur or at the environmental impact of new homes.
John Fingleton, Chief Executive, said: "This is the first in-depth examination of competition and consumer issues in new house building. This is a hugely important market for the economy because of its substantial economic impact and because unresponsive housing supply hinders labour mobility, constrains economic growth, and harms consumers. Furthermore, for individual house buyers, even low levels of dissatisfaction can translate into very high detriment. The study will examine how regulation and competition in the market might work better for both the economy and individual house buyers."
The study is expected to report back by summer 2008.
Almost half of the new council homes completed in London last year were built by Wandsworth. Government figures for 2006 show that councils built just 98 new homes for renting to local people in need. Of these, 47 were in Wandsworth.
All the Wandsworth properties have been funded through the council's innovative 'hidden homes' programme. This takes disused space on estates and converts that space into good quality social housing. Since the scheme started, the Council has completed 136 new homes - all of them now let to local people from the housing waiting list. The current programme could eventually provide up to 300 new homes from former garages, storerooms and laundry areas on estates.
The Council believes that across London there could be as many as 10,000 new homes waiting to be discovered on estates.
Executive member for housing, Martin Johnson, said: "Our hidden homes represent excellent value as there are none of the land acquisition costs that make development so costly in the capital.
"We have urged ministers to follow our example and encourage other councils to seek out innovative ways of adding to their own stock.
"We have also tried without success to get the Mayor's backing for a London-wide initiative. He is in a unique position to promote this simple but effective method of increasing the supply of social housing."
Of the other 51 new council homes built last year, 20 were 'hidden homes' created by Hillingdon from former garage blocks. The others were in Brent (20), Southwark (7), and Croydon (4).
People in Nottingham wanting to get a foot on the housing ladder have been given a boost by housing and regeneration group LHA-ASRA. Fourteen affordable apartments will be built at a cost of £1.1 million as part of a scheme in Beeston, where first-time buyers are finding it increasingly difficult to enter the housing market. Homes in Beeston have the highest rents in Broxtowe, and house prices are rising much faster than incomes.
Ted Czerniak, director of housing at Broxtowe Borough Council, said: "There is an overwhelming demand for new affordable housing particularly in Beeston. These new additions to the social housing sector will greatly benefit those people on the housing waiting list."
Nine of the apartments will be for social rent, two for shared ownership, and three for outright sale. Of the nine apartments for rent, six of them will have one bedroom and three will have two bedrooms.
The units will be built to the latest sustainability standards and will achieve an Eco-Homes Rating of Very Good. This means heating costs will be less than for an older home, and bills will be kept to a minimum.
The anticipated sales values are £115,000 for the shared ownership. Rent and mortgage payments will be £502.79 per month based on a 6% mortgage rate in comparison with a mortgage on the outright sale of £740.95 per month.
Lovell started work on a £6.1 million scheme in Basildon, which includes 61 new flats for Family Mosaic and a senior citizens' day centre for Basildon District Council.
The new flats will comprise 49 properties for rent, including homes for key workers and 12 homes for open market sale. They will be built at the former location of the George Hurd Centre. The centre, which is a meeting place for senior citizens, is relocating to a new two-storey building, which will be built by Lovell. The new centre will include a main hall, dining room, hair dressing room, snooker room, classroom, courtyard garden, office accommodation and car park.
Work on the centre is due to be finished in May 2008, with the flats due for completion in July 2009.
Lovell was also selected by Cobalt Housing to undertake a £7 million housing improvement programme in Liverpool. This will include installing new kitchens and carrying out other refurbishment work at more than 1,780 homes managed by Cobalt Housing in the Croxteth and Fazakerley areas of the city.
Work is starting this month on the improvement programme, which is scheduled for completion in Spring 2009.
Earlier this year, Lovell completed a £15.5 million refurbishment programme for Cobalt Housing, including the installation of new windows, doors and central heating at homes managed by Cobalt.
Tower Homes was highly commended for the 'best new development' in the affordable housing sector category at the Evening Standard New Homes Awards 2007.
Sakura Drive, Haringey, N22, comprises eight two-bedroom houses for sale through the New Build HomeBuy scheme (part buy, part rent). It was completed for occupation in October 2006, and all eight houses were snapped up off-plan with the new owners moved in and settled by the end of that month.
Sakura Drive is a striking development of contemporary new homes that have been built to a high quality specification, incorporating innovative approaches to energy efficiency, the use of space, and consideration for neighbouring homes. Sibmar Construction Group built the homes.
