Category Archives: Affordable Housing

Expert Property Market Forecasts (2019)

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Property Expert Market Forecasts 2019

The following collection of property expert commentary delves into a range of topics moving into 2019. Rolled out for the second year (see the 2018 version), perhaps unsurprisingly, Brexit’s impact on the market remains a common theme.  Yet, while gauging the exact effects is anyone’s guess, the underlying mantra of ‘keeping calm and carrying on’ prevails across this year’s contributions. This is not to understate the risks.  Potential interest rate hikes, negligible capital growth (at best), affordability constraints, and the wind coming out the sails of London’s global hub status are a handful of factors that could spell danger for the over-exposed.  For landlords, the tightening screws resulting from Section 24 and ever-higher barriers to entry continue to shake-up the industry for the worse.  2019 is also likely to be a testing year for emerging operators in the build-to-rent, property... [Read More]

Expert Property Market Forecasts (2018)

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Expert Property Market Forecasts 2018

What follows is an extended post collating a wide array of commentary from property industry thought-leaders, who kindly took the time to reflect on the market moving into 2018. In addition to high-level insights into macro influences, price and rental trends, it is interesting to see the experts delve into a number of specific topics. Examples include the notable demographic shifts occurring across the country alongside the real effects of the Universal Credit (UC) rollout, Local Housing Allowance (LHA) freezes and the widening risks of homelessness. The continued evolution of the build-to-rent, property crowdfunding and online auction sectors have also been explored in some depth. For higher tax paying private landlords, taking heed of the intensifying effects of Section 24 of the Finance Act is frequently mentioned, as are some useful tips to best prepare, and indeed capitalise, for what... [Read More]

What Does Universal Credit Mean for Landlords?

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Launched in 2013, Universal Credit’s underlying aim was to simplify the welfare system by merging six of the main social security benefits into one.  Monthly Local Housing Allowance (or housing benefit) payments will now be pooled into a single sum alongside Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, income-related Employment Support Allowance, Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit. By the end of 2017, the roll-out is to be “accelerated” into a further 150 new areas [1].  With the number of claimant households expected to grow from 570,000 today to 8 million in 2022, the implications for landlords who house LHA tenants are noteworthy (see the Department of Work & Pensions landlord’s guide here). A Disaster Waiting to Happen? Part of the former coalition government’s drive to “make work pay”, i.e. rewarding people for transitioning into gainful employment, the initial phasing of Universal... [Read More]

Making the Private Rented Sector Work for People in Poverty

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The following write up is from a summer 2017 event held by social policy research and development charity the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) – principally exploring how the private rented sector can work better for lower income groups and those in poverty.  Timely in nature in terms of its proximity to the Grenfell Tower disaster, Campbell Robb, chief executive of the organisation, started the event by reasoning how the social / affordable housing crisis continues to elicit opinions from all sides.  However, the broad consensus remains that both policy making and market dynamics are not keeping up with the changes necessary to improve the current landscape. After some real-life quotes from tenants across the country, Robb went on to describe the Private Rented Sector (PRS) as the “home of poverty” – with current estimations pointing to 4.7 million people living in poor... [Read More]

The 2017 London Residential Summit (Estates Gazette)

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Estates Gazette´s early May event sought to address a number present-day questions relating to the current state of London´s residential property sector. Introduction Against a backdrop of Sterling´s post-Brexit devaluation, a marked decline in high-end property prices and the threat of skills shortages, many of the discussions were nonetheless refreshingly directed towards sustainable, non-speculative industry growth. With the government´s housing white paper now in play, the issue of whether “action will follow talk” was deliberated alongside frequent mention of the build to rent sector´s role in tackling the Capital´s housing shortage.  Other conversations included panel discussions amongst Outer London Borough council on the future of housing delivery, advancing social housing delivery in the capital´s estate communities and a very interesting debate amongst leading Housing Associations. London´s Housing Plan Reflecting on the first anniversary of Sadiq Khan’s mayoralty, Deputy Mayor for... [Read More]

Can Landlords Help Alleviate Homelessness? (Part 1)

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Accurately tracking the how many people are homeless and rough sleeping has become practically impossible given that an increasingly large number of people are falling in and out of fixed accommodation.  However, there is little doubt that the problem is getting worse, particularly when observing the “hidden homeless” phenomenon – i.e. those in gainful employment that are still struggling to find a decent and affordable place to live. Exclusively blaming the speculative nature of larger property markets such as London would be unfair – but, objectively speaking, market rents that are increasingly out of sync with incomes and other negative influences such as Local Housing Allowance caps are undoubtedly having a contributory effect. Many readers would already aware of the charity Crisis´ work both in service centre provision across the UK and as a central government lobbyist.  What may not be known is that the organisation is also actively looking to build synergies with the private... [Read More]

Can Landlords Help Alleviate Homelessness? (Part 2)

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In the second part of the interview with Chris Hancock, Head of Housing at Crisis (see part 1 here), we continue to explore tenancy lengths, ensuring that management and solid lines of communication are in place, mortgage borrowing on properties specifically let to LHA tenants / ex-homeless, the noteworthy political will to eradicate rough sleeping (particularly in London), what the UK can learn from other global models and initiatives. Scroll down to the bottom of this post, for information about up and coming events in London, Scotland and Wales which will certainly be of interest to landlords interested in this area. PIB: This may be a difficult question to answer – as you may find that there´s a trade-off between longer, secure tenancies with landlords perhaps being wary about extended commitments and other unknowns – but what kind of tenancy lengths are... [Read More]

The Housing Challenge + The Mayor of London´s Development Plan

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The second of three blog posts (see parts 1 and 3) covering the 2017 British Property Federation (BPF) annual residential conference, briefly outlines some of the takeaways from a panel discussion amongst senior civil servants and a chief executive of Britain´s largest housebuilder followed by a keynote presentation by Jules Pipe, Deputy Mayor for Planning, Regeneration and Skills. “The Housing Challenge” The panel consisted of Tom Copley, London Assembly Member; Mark Prisk MP, former Housing Minister; Sir Edward Lister, Chairman, Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and David Thomas, Group Chief Executive at Barratt Developments. Some of the key points are summarised below: Addressing an issue that prompted cause for concern in the aftermath of the Housing White Paper, Top Copley of the London Assembly advocated a move away from an “obsession” with homeownership using the example of the London Living... [Read More]

Key Planning Issues + The Question of “When (London) Brownfield Isn´t Enough”

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Coinciding with the release of the delayed “broken market” White Paper, the annual British Property Federation (BPF) Residential Conference sought to address a number of pertinent housing-related topics of the day. Principally chaired by Bill Hughes, Head of Real Assets at Legal & General Investment Management, the various presentations and panel discussions delved into a number of key issues ranging from planning to London´s affordable housing crisis and the supporting role of government at local and national levels. The latter part of the day focused heavily on build to rent (outlined in a separate blog post), a tenure that benefitted from further traction by means of consultation on changing the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) (recommending that local authorities plan proactively for these schemes and allow discounted market rent to complement other forms of affordable housing provision). On this latter subject, readers... [Read More]

Post-Brexit Economic Development and Housing Planning (Planning Resource Event) – Part 2

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Part 2 – Focus on Post-Brexit Planning and Housing Supply The second part of the late-2016 Planning Resource event (see part 1 here) addressed a number of topics ranging from the “Brexit effect” on migration and household composition, infrastructure development and the future of planning through to innovative Housing Association-led development models and how London can overcome its affordable housing delivery challenges.  The afternoon was chaired by Duncan Sutherland, regeneration director at Sigma Capital Group Plc – a company at the forefront of the Private Rented Sector (PRS), working with local government to deploy an innovative £1 billion Sharia compliant fund to build 10,000 family houses. Starting with a presentation entitled “Calculating housing need in a post-Brexit period: What Brexit means for plan-making”, James Donagh, Director at Barton Willmore explored how future migration could affect the pace of development growth.... [Read More]