Build, Baby, Build: You don’t solve a supply crisis by juicing demand June 18, 2024 Both parties are making big promises on housebuilding, but the policies being put forward are nothing new at best and actively harmful at worst, says Henry Hill This election is an important milestone in this country’s long-running housing crisis, because it is probably the first one in which both major parties have formally acknowledged that [...]
Rightmove: House prices remain stable despite soaring mortgage rates June 17, 2024 Confidence in the UK housing market has slipped ahead of a general election, despite signs of improvement in recent months.
Neither party is serious enough about housing June 17, 2024 All major parties have set lofty house building targets in their manifestos, but plans to actually achieve them are light on detail. The fact is, there’s no shortage of ideas about how to tackle the big challenges facing Britain, what’s lacking is the political will, says Sam Bidwell It’s election season and so, like Regency [...]
Yes in my backyard! It’s time to get London building June 17, 2024 In JG Ballard’s High-Rise, life in a pseudo-luxury tower block disintegrates into atavistic violence with residents of different floors battling for territory and against the rigid class divisions the building itself imposes on them. London hasn’t quite reached this stage, but like all dystopias the novel magnifies a basic truth – that the urban environment [...]
All the major parties have pledged to build more houses. Can they deliver? June 16, 2024 In 2019, the Conservatives promised to ramp up construction of new homes to 300,000 per year by the middle of the 2020s, but the government has failed to make good on its promise.
Confidence in UK property market starts to dip ahead of election June 13, 2024 Confidence in the UK housing market is starting to dip despite signs of improvements in recent months, according to the latest property surveyor report from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
Election 2024: Could the Blue Wall be about to crumble in Sevenoaks? June 12, 2024 Throughout the election campaign, political reporter Jessica Frank-Keyes is visiting the City’s commuter hotspots. First up, it’s Sevenoaks...
Number of borrowers behind on mortgages jumps to eight-year high June 11, 2024 Households are continuing to feel the strain from the Bank of England's interest rate hikes with the share of mortgages in arrears continuing to creep up.
Election 2024: Houses, ULEZ and tax – what we learned from the Tory manifesto June 11, 2024 With just over three weeks to go ahead of polling day, here are the top five things we learned from Rishi Sunak at the Conservatives’ manifesto launch.
Labour’s ‘everything bagel’ approach to housing leaves a sour taste June 11, 2024 If Labour isn’t offering a serious overhaul of planning regulations to force through new housing it has no business touting images of beautiful townscapes that are illegal to build, says Henry Hill Last week, Labour launched its big offer on housing. As is now becoming the norm, it was accompanied by lots of pretty pictures. [...]