Posts with tag: construction industry

Crest Nicholson on Target to Deliver 4,000 Homes by 2019

Published On: June 16, 2017 at 8:20 am

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Leading residential developer Crest Nicholson has revealed that it is on target to deliver 4,000 new homes by 2019 in its latest half-year results for the six months ended 30th April 2017.

Crest Nicholson on Target to Deliver 4,000 Homes by 2019

Crest Nicholson on Target to Deliver 4,000 Homes by 2019

Trading for the half-year is in line with management expectations, the firm reports, and is on track to deliver growth in revenue for the full year to 31st October 2017.

Operating in the southern half of England, Crest Nicholson’s open market average selling price for the period was up by 12% on the previous six months, to reach £418,000.

Average sales per outlet per week average 0.81, which is in line with the average sales rate for the whole of 2016. Outlet numbers increased, averaging 49 in the first half of this year, up by 11%.

The developer’s unit completions were broadly in line with the same period last year, at 1,021. Overall unit completions, as expected, were lower, at 1,064, compared with 1,206 in 2016.

The firm’s forward sales in mid-June this year stood at £540.4m, up by 4% on last year. Forward sales for the whole of 2017, including year-to-date completions in mid-June, were 6% higher than the same period last year.

Crest Nicholson insists that it is on target to deliver 4,000 homes and £1.4 billion in sales by 2019.

The Chief Executive of the firm, Stephen Stone, comments: “Crest Nicholson has delivered solid foundations for another year of growth in the first half of 2017. We have taken the first steps to establish a new division in the Midlands, increased outlets, built momentum in 2017 forward sales and pursued disciplined expansion of the land pipeline.

“The outcome of the UK General Election may introduce some uncertainty in the short-term, but we expect the new build housing market to remain robust. Strong levels of employment, low interest rates and good mortgage access – including through the Help to Buy scheme – should all contribute to a sustainable new build housing market.”

He adds: “We are on track to deliver growth in revenue this year, and are planning for the medium-term as we progress towards our 2019 targets of £1.4 billion sales and 4,000 homes.”

We Don’t Need to Sacrifice Quality for Quantity, Insists LendInvest

Published On: June 8, 2017 at 8:14 am

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By Ian Thomas, Co-Founder and CIO, LendInvest

There have been some positive signs of late that housebuilding in the UK is turning the corner. For example, last month, the National House Building Council announced that registrations – where builders make a payment for insurance on projects which haven’t yet started – have hit the highest figure seen in ten years.

But in the rush to ramp up the number of homes being built, there is little doubt that some corners are being cut. We have had major housebuilders admit to handing over cash incentives to encourage new homebuyers to complete on homes that haven’t actually finished yet, paying compensation for unacceptable flaws with new homes or announcing that they will slow down the rate of building in order to try to improve the quality of the homes being produced.

According to a recent study by Shelter, more than half of buyers of new build properties had experienced major problems after the purchase had gone through, from construction issues to unfinished fittings and flaws with utilities. That’s just not good enough.

When the Government described the housing market as broken in its Housing White Paper this year, most took them to be talking about the market as a whole – not the actual properties being built.

We are leaning too much on the big builders

We Don't Need to Sacrifice Quality for Quantity, Insists LendInvest

We Don’t Need to Sacrifice Quality for Quantity, Insists LendInvest

It’s no secret that housebuilding has lagged significantly behind demand for a long time. A report from the House of Lords last year suggested that around 330,000 new homes need to be built each year in order to make a difference to rapid house price growth, yet last year the nation could only manage 170,000. And that was a good year by recent standards.

The problem is that we still look to the housebuilding giants, who have dominated the market over the last couple of decades, to do more. But this pressure to increase production is leading to mistakes being made and shortcuts being taken.

It may be that these large builders are simply at their maximum building capacity – if we are to improve the rate of housing production, we need to see homes being produced by a much wider range of sources.

That means doing far more to boost the small and medium-sized builders who are desperate to build homes but face a host of serious barriers, which is holding them back.

Helping the small builder

It’s not that long ago that the small builder played a far more serious role in the housebuilding market in the UK. Before 1990, they were responsible for three in every eight new homes. Today, that number has plummeted to a paltry one in eight, while 80% of small firms have gone out of business since the last housebuilding boom.

Small builders are being pushed out, denied access to public land for development and denied tax breaks open to other small businesses. This cannot carry on – we need to level the playing field, remove these barriers and give small builders the push they need.

Helping small developers build the skillset they need to make a success of their projects is hugely important, and it’s something LendInvest has tried to address with our series of Property Development Academies. That demand has been so strong – and from across the country, to the point that we are now holding them in Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol and Edinburgh – is an encouraging sign that while small builders have faced unfair hurdles for too long, the desire to clear them and get on with building homes is still there.

If small builders have the appropriate skills, the proper funding, and the access to quality land on which to build, then there can be no doubt that they can play a huge role in addressing the housing shortage.

The time for talk is over

With the General Election upon us, all of the major parties have been very open in acknowledging that the current housing problems cannot be allowed to continue. But the time for talk has long since passed, so, come June 9th, whoever it is that takes up residency in Downing Street needs to push for tangible, meaningful action.

We have a whole generation of would-be developers, who want to help produce quality homes. But they need some help getting there, and it is up to us as an industry to continue to champion them and make their case. If some of those barriers can be removed, we will quickly see the SME builders begin to flourish, and the rate of housebuilding increase.

It doesn’t have to be a question of quality or quantity. By standing up for the little guy, we can have both.

If you’re still unsure of who to vote for, read through what each of the main political parties is pledging on housing: https://www.justlandlords.co.uk/news/main-political-parties-pledges-housing/