The number of housing organisations concerned by the recession has increased 30 per cent since October, with one in four now feeling the effects. Since the last survey six months ago – ‘before the recession really took hold’ – housing and regeneration projects have come to a standstill, redundancies have been announced and business models
House builders are likely to become more conservative and turn their backs on major regeneration schemes in response to the recession, according to research by Knight Frank. House builders and developers will look to smaller scale and lower density developments, particularly on greenfield sites. And with values dropping by as much as 70 per cent,
New research from Homeless Link suggests that the help that single homeless people receive depends on where they come from, with one in four local authorities having no emergency accommodation available for non-statutory homeless groups. A spokesperson from Homeless Link said that its members had seen demand for their services increase because of the economic
A new study by the Institute of Public Policy Research has found that there is no evidence to suggest that large-scale migration from eastern Europe since 2004 has had a negative impact on wages or unemployment. Figures out this week from the Homes Office found a 47 per cent drop in the number of migrants
The number of new mortgages fell by 25.3 per cent in the 12 months to March in figures from the British Bankers’ Association. The figure is also down 6.8 per cent compared with February. A spokesperson from the BBA said that it was ‘unrealistic to expect the mortgage market to receive in a steady and
Latest figures from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors show that the pace of house price decline slowed in May, while sales picked up. Around 6 per cent of estate agents said property values had risen in May, while 42 per cent said prices fell. Buyer inquiries rose for the seventh consecutive month, and at
A study by the North West regional design panel has found that quality design can help weather the economic storm, and could even add up to 20 per cent in rents and capital value. The research urges planners and developers to pay greater attention to ‘cost-neutral’ aspects of good design, looking at the ‘whole life’
Meanwhile a Norfolk family is one of the first to benefit from the homeowner’s mortgage support scheme. Ms Whitford fell more than £4,000 behind on her mortgage after she gave up her job, and now the family’s home has been bought by a housing association and is being rented back to the family. The housing
The recession is creating a ‘lost generation’ of young people who may never escape the trap of long-term unemployment, the Local Government Association (LGA) has warned. An investigation by the LGA found that a quarter of those made redundant between October and December were young people aged 18–24. At the other end of the scale
More than 40 per cent of social tenants or their families have been hit by antisocial behaviour during the past two years, according to a YouGov poll. Council and housing association tenants are much more likely than private homeowners to suffer from antisocial behaviour, and more social tenants than owner occupiers believe that the level