To be the party of opportunity, Conservatives must be the party of YIMBYs May 7, 2025 Britain’s housing shortage is now so severe that even if we hit Labour’s now abandoned building target, it would still take half a century to close the gap, says Sir Simon Clarke Last night I was delighted to launch Conservative YIMBY (“Yes In My Back Yard”), a campaign group which aims to transform Conservative attitudes [...]
Vistry: Labour housing pledge to boost company despite profit slump March 26, 2025 Vistry’s share price has slumped five per cent this morning after halting its final dividend of the year, as the housebuilder’s chief described 2024 as a “challenging year” The FTSE 250 firm managed to meet the weak forecasts expected by the markets in its annual results, with profit before tax falling 35 per cent to [...]
Buy Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey ahead of Spring Statement says broker March 24, 2025 Investment bank Jefferies has said investors should ‘Buy’ shares in UK housebuilders like Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey ahead of this week’s Spring Statement. Chancellor Rachel Reeves is set to present her Spring Statement later this week. Due to her commitment to just one major fiscal event, it was intended as an update rather than a [...]
Planning bill will ‘avoid bat tunnels’, housing minister claims March 11, 2025 The government hopes its planning reforms will “avoid bat tunnels”, the housing minister has said. It comes as Labour unveiled major changes to the UK’s planning permissions system – as part of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill – with measures to overhaul how developers meet environmental obligations, replacing site-specific schemes with a general fund. Speaking [...]
Springfield Properties: Revenue slumps as housing projects delayed February 17, 2025 Springfield Properties, one of Scotland’s leading housebuilders, has reported a 13 per cent drop in revenue to £105.6m for the first half of its 2025 financial year, reflecting a subdued housing market and delays in affordable housing projects. Despite the decline in revenue, the company posted a sharp increase in profitability, with adjusted profit before [...]
‘Prohibitive building costs’ stunting UK growth projects – Deloitte February 4, 2025 “Prohibitive costs” involved in construction projects in major UK cities led to a sharp decline in the number of new developments breaking ground in 2024, according to a new report from Deloitte. Deloitte’s latest Regional Crane Surveys, which covers the central areas of Belfast, Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester, has revealed the number of new starts [...]
Lessons from the Gulag? Enemies of the people had entrepreneurial spirit January 8, 2025 A study mapping the link between gulags and regional growth in Russia can teach us something about reviving our own left behind towns.
Lendinvest inches closer to profit as fintech eyes housebuilding boost December 9, 2024 Lendinvest is nearing a return to profitability as the property fintech eyes a boost from the new government’s housebuilding plans. The London-listed firm reported a pre-tax loss of £1.7m for the six months to 30 September, 2024, compared to a £15.7m loss during the same period last year. Lendinvest’s bottom line was helped by a [...]
How to build affordable housing December 9, 2024 Any plan to actually deliver the 1.5m homes the government has committed to must be guided by pragmatism, not dogma – and lower targets for affordable housing can often result in more actually getting built, says Marc Vlessing The sudden departure of both senior leaders at Homes England is an opportunity to rethink the role [...]
Housing crisis ‘hampers growth’ but minister vows 1.5m target on track November 20, 2024 The UK’s housing crisis “hampers economic growth and productivity”, the housing minister has said, as he insisted the target of 1.5m new homes can be achieved. Labour pledged in its manifesto ahead of the election to deliver the 1.5m net additional dwellings over the course of the Parliament, ending in 2029. It came in response [...]