Housing Report Casts Serious Doubts on Government's 2016 Housing Target

A report for the Construction Products Association published on 4th April has cast serious doubts on the government's target to see 240,000 new homes a year built to zero carbon standards by 2016.

The report by the Wood Holmes Group, identifies the difficulties of sufficient land being released to meet this number of housing starts as the main problem that the industry will face. It concludes that 'the overall vision of housebuilding appears to be one of stability in terms of number of houses built due to persistent land supply restrictions derived from the planning system and the inertia of the housebuilding industry'.

Commenting on the reports findings, the Construction Products Association Chief Executive, Michael Ankers said:

'The government has clearly recognised the need to build more houses and the recent Callcutt Report suggested ways that these might be delivered. It is disappointing that there seems to be no evidence that the planning system is capable of delivering the land that is needed for these homes. It is clear that we are almost reaching saturation point as far as building flats and apartments are concerned and inevitably this will lead to even greater pressure on land to accommodate these new homes.

'What we need to see from government is

* a far more effective mechanism to ensure the planning system actually releases the land that is needed for these new homes in the places where people need to live

* A commitment to increase the number of social houses being built through the next decade to help bridge the gap between what the private sector can provide and the number of additional households that are being created.'

Ankers continued:

'What makes this an even bigger challenge is the high environmental standards that we are being asked to build these new homes to in the future. The construction products industry has the ability to deliver the products needed for these homes, but will only make the necessary investment if it is confident there is a realistic prospect of the targets being met. Government needs to take urgent steps to give us that confidence.'

Other key findings of the report which looks at 'The Long Term Prospects for the UK New Housing Market up to 2017' include:

* The most important factor driving new housebuilding over the next 10 years will be the focus on environmental issues. These include the reduction in carbon emissions from houses, use of more water efficient appliances, ensuring the products used meet ever increasing environmental standards, and minimising the risk of flooding by where houses are located.

* There will be an increasing focus on off site manufacture as greater importance is attached to the speed of construction, making sites safer, and improving the quality of the product. Timber frame will increase to about 25% of new housebuilding across the UK by 2017.

* The self build market will remain strong with about 15,000 to 20,000 self build houses completed each year.

* Flats and apartments will continue to provide a high proportion of the new build housing market although the current percentage of nearly 50% will slip back to nearer 40% over the next 10 years.

* The self build market, which currently accounts for 15,000 to 20,000 dwellings a year will not grow any further and will stabilise at this figure.

Web: http://www.constructionproducts.org.uk