ROOF Blog

Tenants will be able to have a greater say over their housing options and where they wish to live following a £1 million allocation announced by the homelessness minister Iain Wright. More than 30 councils and partner housing associations will be able to offer greater choice to new and existing tenants after bidding to develop their lettings schemes, bringing coverage to more than 80 per cent of local authorities. The scheme offer tenants greater mobility, choice and flexibility to move across different local authority areas.

London’s most run down housing estates are set to receive more than £100 million of funding. Around £77 million in funding has been promised to kick start a programme of estate and area regeneration that’s currently ‘stalled’ by the credit crisis, while a further £55 million will be invested to reduce homelessness, provide larger family homes and to maintain and improve social rented homes. The funding is part of the London mayor’s housing strategy but comes from the Homes and Communities Agency’s affordable housing budget.

Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has recorded its highest ever level of arrears in sub-prime mortgages. The ratings agency said that arrears have increased by 24 per cent year on year as a result of house price decline, refinancing problems, and a lack of affordability. Mortgages taken out in 2005 and 2006 now have the highest 90+ day arrears rates and these are ‘rising sharply’. An analyst at S&P said the recent cuts in interest rates should improve the affordability of mortgage payments, however a worsening economic environment is likely to result in further increases in repossessions. It also found that the average time from repossession to sale of properties was around five months.

The slump in house prices eased slightly in November according to the Nationwide’s index. Compared with October’s fall of 1.3 per cent, this month’s price drop of 0.4 per cent ‘moderated significantly’ recent price falls; however, compared with last November’s figures, house prices were down 13.9 per cent. The average house price is now £25,000 less than the previous year, although Nationwide say they are still £25,000 higher than they were in November 2003. It has been estimated that the UK house building industry has shrunk by half since the start of the credit crunch in summer last year.

Meanwhile homeowners desperate to attract buyers have cut asking prices by an average of nearly £17,000 during the past fortnight. Experts say that the cuts indicate a realisation that the housing market is in a dire straight and reverses recent reported increases in prices by owners trying to offset discounts demanded by buyers. In some parts of London, homeowners have dropped asking prices by more than £100,000 according to Globrix’s research.

More than a third of houses in England still fail to meet the decent homes standards according to the government’s own figures. Research from 2006, containing the latest data, show there were 7.7 million homes that did not meet the standard - or 35 per cent of the total. In the private rented sector nearly half of all homes were non-decent, whereas homes owned by housing associations were the most likely to be decent with only 12.8 per cent failing. The figures are worse than the 2005 survey. The government has set a target that all dwellings should meet the decent homes standard by 2010.

In other research, a government think-tank has found that moves towards sustainable energy in the UK are being hampered by old ways of thinking. Foresight looked at how the country’s buildings and spaces will need to evolve to help cut carbon emissions and argues that the UK is ‘locked in’ to using certain forms of energy not because they are better but because they have historically dominated over the others. This has created inertia, as a new form of energy means changing the infrastructure and regulations to support it. The research suggests buildings should have an energy MOT, suggests moving to decentralised energy systems, and wants buildings upgraded to be more carbon neutral.

Diversity should be at the heart of the development process, and local authorities should look again at the different ways in which people experience buildings and places. New research from the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) argues that planning and architecture professionals need to mirror the diversity of the society they serve, while locals authorities should ‘go beyond their public duties’ on race, gender and disability equality and exceed legal requirements.

The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) will do everything it can to change the way that housing is supplied and would encourage the development of housing schemes that mixed affordable rented housing with homes at intermediate rents, as it plans to buy land from house builders in a bid to build new developments and boost the stagnant housing market. The agency plans to make land available for development, unlock surplus supplies of public sector land and target the acquisition of private sector land banks.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) warned the Bank of England (BoE) needed to press ahead with interest rate cuts, as the treasury is running out of options to produce further tax or spending boosts to help the ailing British economy. Britain has been identified as being among several economies that look particularly vulnerable along with Hungary, Iceland Spain and Turkey. The OECD urged the BoE to continue its policy to cut rates as the ‘negative wealth effects on household consumption from falling house prices and financial wealth may be greater than assumed’.