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Tag: Housing Market Intelligence

Searching for a Higgs Boson to explain the unsolved problems of the housing market

Searching for a Higgs Boson to explain the unsolved problems of the housing market

Over the past few months, particularly the past few days, I have bathed in data, ideas, business models, policies and blue sky thinking on how we can deliver more housing in the UK. This was the central theme running through yesterday’s Housing Market Intelligence conference. It was the broad thread that tied together the expert analyses in the associated Housing Market Intelligence report, which I edit. It was also the basic question that underpinned an Institute of Economic Development London…

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Has the Office for Budget Responsibility misread the housing market?

Has the Office for Budget Responsibility misread the housing market?

There seems to be a fair chance the Office for Budget Responsibility’s view of the housing market may be badly awry. Why would that be that bad? 1. Because it potentially supports a complacent attitude among policy makers towards problems within the housing market. 2. Because it may well leave the Chancellor a few billion pounds light on stamp duty in a few years time. But before galumphing into why the OBR may be wrong it’s worth making a couple…

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Did the letter from the Communities Secretary to local authorities throw planning into a pickle?

Did the letter from the Communities Secretary to local authorities throw planning into a pickle?

There has been a lot of screaming about housing projects being abandoned after a letter was sent in late May from the Communities Secretary Eric Pickles to local authorities saying regional targets were, in effect, dead. The National Housing Federation recently claimed that 85,000 planned homes have been scrapped as a result. So as I was doing research for the forthcoming Housing Market Intelligence report analysing planning data produced by Barbour ABI, it seemed wise to see what the data suggested….

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Forecasts point to a tough and risky road ahead for construction

Forecasts point to a tough and risky road ahead for construction

The latest Experian forecast is out today and it paints a broadly similar, albeit slightly more optimistic, picture to that of the recently released forecast from the Construction Products Association. The main point of departure is on the views towards housing. Here the Experian forecasters are more bullish, if you can say that about a market that even by 2012 is expected to be almost 30% smaller than it was before the credit crunch. Experian’s expectation of a faster improvement…

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Residential planning activity bounces back

Residential planning activity bounces back

The latest Government planning data on the face of it supports the view that there has been a bounce in activity within the house building sector. The topline data, released today, for residential planning decision show a fall in the September quarter compared with both the previous quarter and on the same quarter last year.

Why let planning just look like a lottery? Make it one

Why let planning just look like a lottery? Make it one

On the subject of Grant Shapps and John Healey, I attended the Housing Market Intelligence conference last week at which both spoke. I obviously recommend the conference because I have a vested interest in it and indeed the associated report, which I edit. But that is not the point. While the presentation styles of the two politicans could not have been more different, there was one thread I noticed that appeared to tie the two presentations together. Given that this…

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Brian Green

Brian Green

As a journalist and commentator, Brian Green has tracked trends in construction, property and housing for more than 20 years. He was the project editor for last year’s launch of the Contract Journal Top 100 report and edits Housing Market Intelligence, now regarded as the ‘industry bible’. Brian is a strong believer in the power of numbers to describe the world, which creates some discomfort as he tracks the rise and fall in the fortunes of Norwich City, or should…

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