Member Article

Government must do more to help Housing deficit

A North East property expert has praised the government new housing strategy, but believes that more must be done to help the UK housing market.

Richard Shield, head of North East residential for DTZ believes that the nation needs to communicate the need for new homes, or let future generations face the consequences of not building enough.

“The rising generation needs to find its voice in the debate - it is our children who will find it difficult to afford satisfactory housing, and it will be these younger people who will end up paying a much higher proportion of their income on housing that the older generation ever did.”

However, he did welcome the announcement about mortgage guarantees, which will boost the ability of younger households to get on the housing ladder, but deemed it a “work in progress”.

“In a market where overall mortgage lending volumes are only half of their pre- 2008 long- term average, the overall impact of this scheme on the housing market will be modest,” he continued. “The government needs to be more radical and create the environment in which major financial institutions will invest in new build private rented housing.”

Richard also believes that despite the promise of financial support, the UK will never be able to build enough homes for those who need one if the UK continues to rely on traditional ways of supporting development.

DTZ have compiled a report, detailing a far more radical approach to building, entitled ‘Pulling up the Ladder 2’, which details how institutional funding could completely change the industry.

Richard concluded: “The government needs to kick start investment by the life and pension companies in building for private renting on a large scale.

Some of the funds allocated under the Get Britain Building Fund must be awarded to schemes that demonstrate how this can be done.“

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .