What needs to change about housing policy by UK property professionals ahead of party conference season
Katherine McCullough, development director at Merchant Land
“During the political party season, I would like to see some attention given to reviewing what Osborne’s stamp duty reforms have achieved and ideally, to have them reversed in order to help stimulate the housing market at the top end. It would also be encouraging to hear discussion taking place around tax incentives to encourage down-sizing; not only to stimulate housing supply but to also benefit the downsizers themselves. Finally, a critical and honest conversation around Help to Buy schemes and whether they will be committed to in the mid to long term or brought to an end would be welcome.”
Jeff Doble, Dexters Chief Executive and Founder
“The seemingly endless changes of Housing Minister appear to show a lack of commitment by Government to this vital policy area. Stamp duty must remain at the top of the agenda. The current stamp duty arrangements at the top end of the market are acting as a disincentive to sell and should be reduced. This would not only encourage transactions, but also result in higher tax revenue.”
Paul Cook, Managing Director of Dukelease (prime central London developer)
Planning policy should be updated to reflect how both how people want to live and how London is growing – allowing more mid-rise and smartly designed buildings across the city which can deliver high density yet sustainable living.
Rather than any abrupt removal of SDLT, which could result in inflation as a flood of transactions take place, an adjustment to policy needs to be pitched at a sensible level to maintain a reasonable flow of transactions whilst still benefiting the exchequer. Regardless, the Chancellor must lay out his clear rationale for SDLT.
As well as continuing to try and increase the mass of London itself, it would be a welcome change to see an approach that looks to alleviate the pressure, concentrating on cultivating the growth of ‘nodal’ towns into business hubs in their own right. There are a great number of well-placed towns located on key London transport links that with the right support have major growth potential.
Justin Gaze, Joint Head of Residential Development at Knight Frank
1. Providing clarity on the future of Help to Buy. This would aid development decisions for housebuilders, rather than resulting in a period of uncertainty between 2018 and 2021 and potential decline in new home completions. The Labour party has already laid out its plans, now it’s the turn of the Conservatives.
2. Addressing the cost of attaining planning, perhaps by cutting the bill for smaller housebuilders, thereby making it easier for them to enter the market.
3. Announcing immediately the promotion of the housing minister to Cabinet to demonstrate the government is serious about housebuilding.
Adam Challis, residential research at JLL
“There is simply not enough capacity to even entertain national target rates of housing delivery without a proportion of between one third and one half of new homes being created off-site in factory environments in the long-term. Estimates vary, but JLL believes current off-site capacity in the UK is below 20,000 units, suggesting the industry must grow and mature rapidly. There is no longer room for complacency. This is worthy of direct Government support through Homes England and in line with the broader post-Brexit industrial strategy for the UK. The UK could claim exporter status with respect to factory-produced housing construction capability, while also modernizing the housebuilding industry that has been wracked by quality concerns alongside its relative unresponsiveness to increases in quantity.”
Hannah McDougall, Lettings Manager at United Kingdom Sotheby’s International Realty
“I am looking forward to the Conservative party bringing some clarity to the lettings fees ban. This issue came to the forefront in the Autumn Statement and again in the Queen’s speech early this year, but since then we’ve heard very little on how the government plans to tackle this. Uncertainty is rife and this needs to be addressed in order for the rental market to thrive. Our team has already taken the decision to absorb lettings fees until a firm decision is made as to who these fees will fall to, but certainly transparency on this issue and consistency across the market would be extremely encouraging to see.”
Trevor Abrahmson, director, Glentree International
To clear the logjam to get the sluggish Residential Property up and running
1. Reduce the transaction tax (SDLT) at the middle to higher end since you will increase the revenue to the Treasury and, at the same time, the number of transactions that take place that will increase the liquidity of the market.
2. Planning: The labyrinthine planning process is the chicane of the housing supply. Rescue back the control of planning consents from the local boroughs and give it to the DOE so that adjudications are based on planning matters and not on petty politics or fatuous ecological aspirations.
Simon Gerrard, MD, Martyn Gerrard
There are two policies I think could be transformative. Firstly, a time restricted Capital Gains Tax Moratorium to encourage landowners to sell parcels of land which will enable much needed new housing to be built, and secondly a stamp duty rethink that would make it payable by those selling, not buying; encouraging both first time buyers and those aspiring to move up. Both Government and industry must work together to initiate reform in a radical way or the rhetoric means nothing!
Adam Stackhouse, Bective RDI & New Homes Director
In the last couple of days, Sadiq Khan has suggested that he should assume control over the Capital’s Stamp Duty receipts (currently £3.37bn in 2015/16 and rising..) so how about a combination of the two to provide solutions for all? Instead of isolating affordable homes as an issue we should confront this issue with the obvious remedy – tax revenues from home sales. If a robust argument was presented to politicians whereby Khan was given control of stamp duty receipts and the rates at which they are set in the Capital, then he would be able to apply this tax more specifically across the city and vary it for those most in need. This would be one way to get things moving.
Ed Heaton, founder and managing partner of Heaton & Partners
“I would like to see a reduction in stamp duty proposed in the party conference speeches. I’m not sure that I stand much hope of it, but we desperately need to try and give the prime market a helping hand. A reduction in stamp duty would definitely help release more stock into the market without fuelling house price inflation.”
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