Shelter - Real Census

Shelter has just launched the Real Census to find out about people's experiences of the UK housing market. Please get involved by sharing your views and experiences, including of the private rented sector, housing affordable, issues of overcrowding.

National Housing Federation Report

The recent publication of the National Housing Federation’s report into the state of the UK housing market highlighted a number of issues that, unfortunately, held no surprises for PricedOut. This includes:

• Estimating that rents will rise by another 20% over the next five years;
• Predicting that the average house price will rise by 21% to £260,000 over the same period (with UK house prices remaining at over six times the average salary);
• Estimating that levels of home-ownership in the UK will fall to 63% over the next decade, with home ownership primarily declining amongst younger generations;
• Highlighting the fact that levels of house-building are at their lowest since the 1920s, with only 105,000 homes built last year.

You can read some of our responses to the publication of the report here

This report underlines some of the key challenges that are on the horizon for PricedOut and which we will continue to campaign Government on over the coming months. These challenges include:

• Campaigning for more affordable housing to be built. We are currently scrutinising the proposals outlined in the Government’s National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). We broadly support proposals to reform the planning system and free up more land for house-building – though we recognise the need to balance this with the need for green spaces and protection of important landscapes. The draft NPPF proposals can be viewed in full here.
• Incentivising the building sector to increase its production of decent, affordable homes – how can we ensure that this happens, even if reform of the planning system increases the supply of cheaper land? Also, how will we ensure that building companies produce the type of homes that are needed, suitable for both young people and families looking for a decent place to live (rather than yet more built-to-let studio and one-bed ‘luxury apartments’?)
• Reform of the private rented sector. One of the key lessons from the NFF’s research is surely that the Government needs to reform the private rented sector, the least affordable and least secure sector. If more and more people are to find themselves forced to live in this sector (those now being referred to as ‘Generation Rent’), we need to see vastly improved tenants’ rights, creating the kind of security that does not yet exist in this sector and reflecting the security enjoyed by private tenants in other parts of Europe. As always, we are keen to hear from anyone interested in debating these issues and sharing their ideas with us. Please contact katy@pricedout.org.uk if you are interested in getting involved with campaign activities.

Help Turn Empty Buildings into Homes

A key government proposal to make housing cheaper for First Time Buyers may be under threat.

The government has announced that it is looking to make it easier to convert empty commercial property into residential accommodation.

Towns and cities across the UK are currently awash with empty offices, warehouses and shops – whilst house prices stay close to record highs. Making it easier to convert these places to residential housing would help First Time Buyers greatly – at a time when house building is at record lows.

However these plans are in danger of grinding to a halt. We need to make sure that supportive First Time Buyers lobby government.

Help make sure this idea doesn’t get buried – take action now

Budget First Time Buyer Scheme:

Irresponsible and counter productive

Commenting on the budget announcement of a new assisted deposit scheme, PricedOut spokesperson Matt Griffith said: "The interests of First Time Buyers are not being served by this new assisted deposit scheme."