Calls for more UK housing as prices hold up
BRITAIN needs more houses to avoid shortages in the near future, a group of economists is expected to announce tonight.
Even if net migration levelled out, the UK would still require more housing, the Centre for Economic Performance will state at a lecture in London.
“Unfairly perhaps, migrants will nevertheless get a lot of blame,” the group expects, unless authorities are presented with “strong financial incentives to allow development”.
The news comes as house prices appear to have bottomed out, according to a separate survey.
House prices held firm in May, despite sluggish activity in the market, ending seven consecutive months of price falls, according to a study by the Centre of Economics and Business Research.
The average house price stands at £173,379 across the UK, and £371,540 in London, said Chesterton Humberts, which sponsored the research.
Prices in the capital are up 1.2 per cent compared to the same time last year, the research found.
Mortgage lending in the UK rose in May after a slump in April, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) revealed in a separate statement yesterday.
“Distorting effects from Easter and bank holidays cloud the current picture,” said CML chief Michael Coogan, “but the likelihood seems to be for essentially flat levels of lending over the next couple of months.”
A total (gross) of £11.3bn was lent in May – up 12 per cent from April’s sluggish rate, yet only one per cent higher than in May 2010.
“Gross mortgage lending includes lending for both house purchase and remortgage,” the report explained.
“Despite a modest pick-up in overall lending activity during May, lending for house purchase is running below year earlier levels.”