UK’s listed builders on track to build fewest new houses in a decade

17 comments

1. This is what happens when you have a completely arbitrary planning system that is run by and caters to people who are anti-development.

2. Suddenly the British people realise they need those hardworking Polish to do the hard work such as building stuff so the Brits can rest their lazy backsides on past laurels wondering about 4-day work weeks.

   Edit: downvote me you racist Brexiters! I beckon thee!

3. The planning system is a joke, councils make it so difficult to get planning.

   Also, developers are being put off by the 50% towards social housing. Their profits drop massively so development projects are not as fruitful.

4. The planning system is a big problem but it is not the only problem. Plenty of developers don’t build even when they have got planning approval – I have known a prime London zone 2 site having been left demolished and then half empty since before COVID. It is classic market failure where capacity restraints mean maximising output (social goal) is against maximising profits (corporate goal), so instead you are seeing mostly high profit margin luxury homes being built.

5. Phew! Thankfully immigration levels aren’t at record highs or we’d have really created a horrible property market.

6. It seems to me that we should be building more of this:

   https://maps.app.goo.gl/hcJQpJqBBWuJB7k16

   Close to metrolink and railway stations, bus services, and a protected cycleway all the way to the city centre.

   Or this – https://maps.app.goo.gl/sDA4UqbjRdChu8FcA

   Most of the new housing developments I see are tiny box rooms, garages that are too small, no gardens, high fences everywhere, built near motorway junctions, with no shops or anything. Peacemeal planning. I really hope regional mayors get more powers so we can actually design towns to be accessible and interesting.

7. I’ve said it multiple times and I stand by it: relying solely on the private sector to resolve the housing crisis is ineffective. Labour must commit to building 400,000 council houses annually, as was achieved in the post-war era. If it was possible in the 1960s, it is certainly achievable today. The current model of small-state neoliberalism is not the solution—it is the root cause of our problems. The government must take direct action by investing in construction and infrastructure to address this crisis effectively.

8. Need plenty of places to live, but the infrastructure needs to be sorted

9. Mainly because no one can afford to buy them, at least down here in North East hants.
   1 bed flat min £300k
   3 bed semi £400k
   4 bed detached £500k to£760k dependant on area.

10. A big part of the problem is that the UK is overly dependant on London, in effect everyone who wants to get ahead in life must crowd into the capital however with it constrained by the green belt in area, planning laws in heigh, logically the exponentially increasing demand for housing in the capital in which there is a limited supply of said housing naturally makes the price go up.

    cities like Sheffield for example still have lower populations than they did in the 1970’s, if the UK’s economy was more equal on a regional basis that is, sapping away demand from London, then housing prices would lower since well, demand would be spread out over a greater area much less constrained in supply.

11. Anyone remember the mega towers from blade runner, dred etc… perhaps this is how we get there. lol

12. On flood plains and we wonder why so much of the Uk floods.

13. A decade you say? I look forward to hearing all about how this is Sir Kier Starmer’s fault.

14. A profit motive for home building is not gunna provide the results we need.

    We just need to build em and have whoever buys em reimburse the taxpayer instead of taylorwimpy or whatever private equity cunts are currently scamming.

15. Does this exclude residential flats? I’ve seen loads built.

16. From the F T article,

    “as sales have declined house builders have pulled back from buying land and opening new sites, reducing their output and trying to avoid ruducing the prices of their homes”

    So their plan is to keep the prices artificially high to protect their shareholders, our government are going to need a stronger backbone to win this one.

17. I think the problem is that it costs almost as much to build a house north of Birmingham as what you can sell a house for.

    If you want to build south of Birmingham then you run into areas that are already vastly overpopulated and zealous planning officers that refuse to authorize any more large developments.

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