Blanchard Consultancy – the independent construction consultant

The proportion of first-time buyers entering the housing market increased for the third month in a row in November, figures showed today.

The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) said 10.4% of all properties sold during the month were bought by first-time buyers, up from just 8.3% in August.

It said the improvement offered a "glimmer of hope" among otherwise gloomy statistics as the property market suffered from its traditional seasonal downturn.

House prices continued to fall during November, while there was also a dip in the number of sales agreed and the number of house hunters in the market.

The NAEA said the Christmas slowdown meant the full impact of recent interest rate cuts and government announcements to help the housing market would not be felt until the new year.

Read more at Guardian online

Labels: credit crunch, first time buyers, House market

BRITAIN’s biggest housebuilder will strike a compromise deal with banks this week to buy it breathing space to renegotiate its £1.9 billion debt mountain.

Bankers for Taylor Wimpey are expected to postpone a crucial covenant test on its loans to give the builder more time to restructure its finances.

The embattled company was due to breach an end-of-year covenant test on its loans following a savage downturn in the housing market.

It is expected that Taylor Wimpey will be forced to update the London Stock Exchange this week on the progress of the negotiations.

Article continues at Times online

Labels: credit crunch, Taylor Wimpey

The government's zero carbon homes initiative is in danger of being "devalued" say campaigners who have previously lauded the scheme as pioneering. They say the definition of zero carbon risks being diluted in the face of the worst economic conditions for housebuilding since the 1920s.

However, launching a government consultation on the definition of zero carbon today the housing minister Margaret Beckett said despite the economic crisis she was "absolutely committed to our 2016 target".

The government has pledged that by 2016 all new homes have to be zero carbon, through energy efficiency and renewable power. It estimates that 25% of the UK's CO2 emissions come from housing - reducing demand for household heating using fossil fuels is key to achieving the government's target of an 80% reduction in emissions by 2050.

"Climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing the world, and introducing zero carbon homes is an important part of our plans to tackle this." said Beckett.

She added: "With the consultation process we are launching today, we are confident we will be able to achieve our ambitions while giving the industry flexibility for how they get there."

Read more at Guardian online

Labels: financial crisis, zero carbon housing

Alistair Darling's plan to assist the construction industry by bringing forward £3bn of infrastructure work was overshadowed last night when it emerged that the Treasury has ordered a review of its huge overhaul of the English schools estate.

Although the chancellor yesterday announced the fast-tracking of £800m worth of primary school construction and refurbished secondaries, a rethink of the £45bn plan for new schools and for an improvement in the education workforce would be a severe blow to the building sector.

The schools programme is thought to be worth more to construction firms than the Olympics and the proposed expansion of Heathrow airport put together.

The pre-budget report identifies a series of areas to be targeted under the public value programme for additional savings.

Read more at Guardian online

Labels: Alistair Darling, Construction, Housebuilders, pre-budget report

Homebuilding in Britain has fallen to a 84-year low as falling house prices and dwindling numbers of buyers hit construction firms, a new report shows.

Some 135,000 private houses were started this year, down from 203,500 last year, figures from the Construction Products Association and Ernst & Young show.

It is the lowest number of housing starts during peace time since 1924, when housebuilders started work on 87,000 properties.

There are fears that housebuilding could grind to a virtual halt in the new year as more housebuilders stop work. Several large construction groups have postponed starting new projects as they try to drum up buyers for existing completed homes.

Article continues at Times Online

Labels: Construction, Housebuilders, uk housing

One of Britain’s most powerful bankers gave a grim economic forecast last night that the country was only midway through the housing slump and that unemployment was set to soar.

John Varley, group chief executive of Barclays, painted a bleak outlook, saying that property prices could fall by a total of 30 per cent from their peak to the end of 2009 while unemployment could rise to 7.5 per cent of the working population. The previous lending policies’ of banks, in which 100 per cent mortgages and beyond were approved, were “madness”, he said, admitting that banks were partly to blame for the current recession.

It was time they showed “humility”, and said “sorry” to customers for their role in the sharp economic downturn and they needed “to take their share of responsibility”.

Mr Varley said, in an interview to be broadcast on Sky News tonight that there was still more pain coming for homeowners: “Our view was that from the top to the bottom, you would see a fall of something like 25 to 30 per cent. I suspect we’re about halfway through that at the moment. I mean that slow-down, the negative house price inflation started in 2007, it’s accelerated in 2008.

Read the full article at Times Online

Labels: Barclays, falling house prices, House market

The OFT has proposed "comprehensive look" at the estate agent market, including:

* Competition on price and quality between service providers;

* The prospects for new entry by, in particular, internet property retailers;

* The extent to which consumer interests are protected by the existing regulatory framework.

The group, which will begin the study in 2009, plans to talk to businesses, Government and consumer groups about the industry.

Estates agents across the country are facing a tough time amid the economic downturn with many selling just one property a week as the value of houses tumble.

Rightmove, the leading property website, last month revealed that up to 300 estate agents are quitting the property website every month as the slump in the UK housing market worsens.

John Fingleton, the OFT chief executive, said: "Buying or selling a home is something most people do only a few times in their life, but it is usually the biggest transaction they will make. We want to ensure that consumers are served well when buying or selling a home and are supported by an effective, competitive and innovative market.

Read more at Telegraph Online

Labels: National association of estate agents, OFT, uk mortgage market

The value of UK commercial property will have more than halved by the end of the decade as rental demand continues to wane, according to a report out today.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) predicts that the commercial property market will see a fall of at least 16% in capital values in 2009 and up to 10% in 2010. Capital values have already fallen 25% since the onset of the credit crunch in June 2007. This would mean steeper falls than in the recessions of the 1970s and early 1990s.

Oliver Gilmartin, senior economist at RICS, said: "We are only halfway through the price correction in the commercial property market, with values set to fall through 2009 and 2010 as rental declines gather pace. Transaction activity is set to rise, however, as more sellers become willing to accept lower bid prices."

The report says that rising defaults will prevent a near-term recovery, and the investment market will be sluggish for some time to come.

Article continues at Guardian online

Labels: commercial mortgages, commercial property prices, RICS