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Tag: Grant Shapps

Latest surveys suggest house price inflation is accelerating. That’s not a good thing

Latest surveys suggest house price inflation is accelerating. That’s not a good thing

The latest batch of statistics on the housing market have all been impressive, suggesting broad and strong growth in house sales and house prices. The RICS survey out today shows that over the past few months there has been a sustained increase in all the main indicators. A hefty majority of estate agents have seen increases in achieved prices, they expect further increases, they have seen rises in enquiries from new buyers and instructions from new sellers, and their level…

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Why the Government must look again at the New Homes Bonus

Why the Government must look again at the New Homes Bonus

As a critic of the New Homes Bonus, even before its inception, I had very mixed feelings reading the damning report that has emerged from the Government watchdog the National Audit Office. I find myself battling between the ugly side craving vindication and the better side being concerned for the potential damage done and how things might be improved. Today the devil has won. Grant Shapps: You were told, before you launched the scheme, when you launched the scheme and…

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What can you do when a radical and unashamedly ambitious housing strategy isn’t enough?

What can you do when a radical and unashamedly ambitious housing strategy isn’t enough?

Listening to the Budget speech is often theatre, with oohs and ahhs. Reading the documents is more often a prosaic task punctuated with eh? and what? This Budget provided no exception. Even though it failed to light fires for the construction industry, it did provide interest. George Osborne’s Help to Buy scheme captured the imagination as he spoke. Sadly, unpicking the detail, such as it is, there is plenty of scope for both questions and concern. The Chancellor was not…

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Average house prices may be stable, but the figures hide trouble

Average house prices may be stable, but the figures hide trouble

Much fuss is made over the monthly ups and downs of housing price indicators. But in reality those released recently suggest the average UK house price remains more or less locked at the steady altitude it has followed for more than a year. Taking a consensus from the plethora of available measures suggests an average home costs you today within 1% (probably 1% less) of what it would have cost a year ago and more or less the same as…

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Figures show we are just not building enough homes. It is that simple.

Figures show we are just not building enough homes. It is that simple.

The latest official house building statistics to emerge underline the massive task ahead for the Government if it is to meet its promise of boosting English house building rates to a level above that achieved before the recession. It was in September 2010 that Grant Shapps ambitiously announced this “Gold Standard” against which he, as housing minister, would be judged.

It’s time for Shapps to find a big bazooka

It’s time for Shapps to find a big bazooka

In September 2010 Grant Shapps set a “Gold Standard” against which he, as housing minister, would be judged – to see a house-building rate at least matching that achieved before the recession. There are few targets (political hostages to fortune, perhaps) discernable from the reams of documentation and hours of speeches and statements made by this Government. But this is one. It is important. The consensus is England needs more homes. Sorry, a lot more homes, more even than the previous…

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There may be less work in 2012, but that doesn’t mean less opportunity for smart construction firms

There may be less work in 2012, but that doesn’t mean less opportunity for smart construction firms

Expect 2012 to start with industry forecasters shading down their estimates for construction growth. But while workload is likely to decrease in 2012, that does not mean that the opportunities for smart thinking and resourceful construction firms need also shrink. I would argue that the very decline in the economy and the stresses caused open up scope for entrepreneurial thinkers with ideas for improving the built environment.