Eight of the largest housebuilders in the country are to be investigated for price fixing, it has been announced.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is to look at whether the developers are guilty of illegally sharing sensitive information.

Builder breaches

The eight housebuilders whose activities are being investigated for breaches of the Competition Act 1998 are: Barratt, Bellway, Berkeley, Bloor Homes, Persimmon, Redrow, Taylor Wimpey and Vistry Group.

The CMA says it has not yet reached a view about whether there is sufficient evidence of an infringement of competition law.

It also published its final report on the housebuilding market, which finds that the “complex and unpredictable planning system, together with the limitations of speculative private development”, are responsible for the failure to build enough homes.

It is important we tackle anti-competitive behaviour if we find it.”

Sarah Cardell, CEO of the CMA (main picture), says: “The CMA has also today opened a new investigation into the suspected sharing of commercially sensitive information by housebuilders which could be influencing the build-out of sites and the prices of new homes.

“While this issue is not one of the main drivers of the problems we’ve highlighted in our report, it is important we tackle anti-competitive behaviour if we find it.”

Estate charges

The report also found concerns about estate management charges – with homeowners “often facing high and unclear charges for the management of facilities such as roads, drainage, and green spaces”.

“Concerns have been found, too, with the quality of some new housing after the number of owners reporting snagging issues increased over the last 10 years,” the CMS says.

Marc Vlessing, CEO, Pocket Living

This report says what we all knew.”

Marc Vlessing, CEO at first-time buyer house developer Pocket Living, says: “This report says what we all knew.

“That the housebuilding sector isn’t working and isn’t delivering the new homes we need.”

Drop in newbuilds hits Gove’s promise to achieve house-building target

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Connells has poured cold water on PM Rishi Sunak’s plan to build homes in inner city areas, and called for a return of Help to Buy.

The UK’s largest estate agent says the Prime Minister’s initiative is not ‘a silver bullet’, and the Government is still “miles away” from hitting its target of 300,000 new homes per year.

Shake-up

Sunak announced that planning rules are to be given a major shake-up to ensure local councils allow more ‘brownfield’ development such as derelict and unused buildings.

Every council in England will be told they need to prioritise brownfield building, with less red tape and more flexibility in applying policies that currently prevent housebuilding.

Miles away

The bar for refusing brownfield plans will also be made much higher for those big city councils who are failing to hit their locally agreed housebuilding targets.

Up to 11,500 more homes could be created in London under the plans, the Government claims.

Brownfield sites are part of the equation of course, but it’s not the silver bullet.”

But Jason Willetts, MD at Connells Land & New Homes (main picture), says: “Brownfield sites are part of the equation of course, but it’s not the silver bullet, what is undeniable is that we are not building enough homes – we’re miles away from the 300,000 that was targeted.

“We know brownfield sites are not often in the location that buyers want them to be,” he says.

Help to Buy

Jason Howes, National MD, Sequence Land & New Homes

And Jason Howes, National MD at Sequence Land & New Homes (part of Connells), says: “What would really help the market and boost housing growth, and with it the economy, would be the reintroduction of Help To Buy”.

Jeremy Leaf

Jeremy Leaf, north London estate agent and a former RICS residential chairman, was also sceptical about the Government’s plans: “Sadly we have heard much of it before without seeing much difference on the ground.”

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Building on inner city sites will be ‘turbocharged’ under a government push to provide more homes, an initiative to be led by PM Rishi Sunak.

Planning rules are to be given a major shake-up to ensure local councils allow more ‘brownfield’ development such as derelict and unused buildings, the Prime Minister announced.

Less red tape

Every council in England will be told they need to prioritise brownfield building, with less red tape and more flexibility in applying policies that currently prevent housebuilding.

The bar for refusing brownfield plans will also be made much higher for those big city councils who are failing to hit their locally agreed housebuilding targets.

Up to 11,500 more homes could be created in London under the plans, the Government claims.

‘Rocket boosters’

There is poor housing delivery in the capital the Government says, so it is “putting rocket boosters” under brownfield regeneration projects.

Legislation laid in Parliament will extend current permitted development rights, so that commercial buildings of any size will have the freedom to be converted into new homes.

The government is also launching a consultation on proposals that would see more new extensions or large loft conversions “freed from the arduous process of receiving planning permission”.

The changes announced today will deliver the right mix of homes across England.”

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says: “We pledged to build the right homes in the right places – protecting our precious countryside and building more in urban areas where demand is highest.

“We are sticking to our plan and are on track to meet our commitment to deliver one million homes over the course of this Parliament, and the changes announced today will deliver the right mix of homes across England.”

‘Heard it before’

Jeremy Leaf

Jeremy Leaf, north London estate agent and a former RICS residential chairman, says: “There are many aspects of these proposals which are welcome, such as concentration on increasing supply and recognition of the importance of addressing affordable housing shortages, particularly on brownfield land.

“However, sadly we have heard much of it before without seeing much difference on the ground.”

Strict timetable

There must be a strict timetable for delivery and consequences of failure for local authorities who do not meet realistic planning and infrastructure targets, he says.

“Local people want to know what impact these measures will have in their areas before and after, otherwise they will probably go the way of past attempts at dealing with this increasingly serious housing crisis.”

Drop in newbuilds hits Gove’s promise to achieve house-building target

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Purplebricks boss Sam Mitchell has launched a scathing attack on the Conservatives saying they must take responsibility for the housing crisis.

After 16 housing ministers in 14 years of the Tories’ time in power, the party needs to face up to its failings, the Purplebricks CEO says.

Mass building

He calls on the Government to build more houses, including a “mass social housing building programme” to relieve the pressure on the PRS.

The Conservative Party must take responsibility for the situation.”

“The lack of housing stock in the UK is a significant factor in the difficulties faced by first-time buyers and, having gone through 16 housing ministers in 14 years, the Conservative Party must take responsibility for the situation.”

Mitchell, who was CEO at Strike when it bought Purplebricks for a £1 last year, says the housing problems have been compounded by the sell-off of council housing in the 1980s.

Rents skyrocketing

“With rents skyrocketing, it has been increasingly difficult for first-time buyers to save for a deposit.

If the Government is really serious about tackling this issue…it must be clear about its commitment to build new homes.”

“As a result, we’re seeing young people live at home with their families for much longer and fewer first-time buyers,” he says in a press statement.

“If the Government is really serious about tackling this issue, as the Housing Secretary [Michael Gove] appears to suggest, it must be clear about its commitment to build new homes, including a mass social housing building programme.

“This will free up the private rented sector as well as normalise rents and housing choice for tenants.”

Reshuffle latest: Lee Rowley appointed as Housing Minister

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Rightmove has acquired the build-to-rent reviews platform, HomeViews, in an £8 million deal.

The move is an indication of Rightmove’s strategy to take over any competition that threatens its dominance, as HomeViews did in the build-to-rent sector.

HomeViews claims to be the UK’s largest community of verified resident reviews of property developments, but is also essentially place for tenants and buyers to seek out the ‘best’ blocks.

CEO stays

Its data platform, HomeViews Pro, is used by the build-to-rent industry to better understand resident experiences and trends across the sector.

Rory Cramer, CEO, HomeViews

Rory Cramer, CEO at HomeViews, will continue to lead the team following the acquisition.

The HomeViews team has built an impressive platform.”

Johan Svanstrom, CEO, Rightmove

Johan Svanstrom, CEO at Rightmove, says: “The HomeViews team has built an impressive platform that gives consumers additional useful information to make decisions.

“It also provides valuable feedback for industry operators, especially in the build-to-rent sector, which is an exciting and fast-growing segment of the UK property market,” he says.

“This acquisition provides Rightmove with yet another opportunity to further enrich our market-leading property information set for UK consumers, and to create new and effective relationship tools for our build-to-rent operator partners.”

Joining Rightmove gives us a brilliant opportunity to expand our services.”

Cramer says: “Joining Rightmove gives us a brilliant opportunity to expand our services for our partners and other stakeholders.

“Rightmove’s brand leadership, its ongoing digital and product innovation, and the breadth and depth of its reach across the UK property market make this a fantastic combination,” he says.

“We can’t wait to start working together to leverage those benefits for the rapidly expanding build-to-rent market.”

ANOTHER estate agent reviews service goes national this time for new-build development residents

90% of MPs ‘ignorant of Build-to-Rent as housing crisis solution’

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The Government’s house building aims took another blow with a total fall last year.

There was an 8% drop in new build starts in the year to the end of September, official statistics reveal.

The total was 165,990 in England, with a 4% decrease in completions to 166,310 over the same period.

Dramatic fall

Quarterly figures show a dramatic fall of 68% from Q2 to Q3 in 2023 in house building, but there was a record high of new build housing starts in Q2 as developers rushed to beat a deadline for Net Zero carbon emissions.

New build completions were estimated to be 39,990, a 1% increase when compared to Q2 2023, and a 5% decrease when compared to Q3 2022.

Completions are 18% below their Q1 2021 peak, but 149% above their Q2 2020 trough.

Watered down

The Government’s target to build 300,000 new homes a year was watered down in 2022 when housing secretary Michael Gove (main picture) agreed to make it advisory rather than mandatory.

Instead, Gove later challenged councils to meet their targets or face being named and shamed.

He also said that any local authorities which delayed legitimate planning applications could lose their powers.

Reverse

Labour has promised to reverse Gove’s plans to boost housing supply ‘on day one’ of a new government.

And Liberal Democrat members rejected a move by the party’s leadership to abandon a housing target of 380,000 new homes every year.

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A crackdown on ownership of ‘land trusts’, including foreign investors, has been announced by the Government and backed by former agency owner Kevin Hollinrake MP (main pic).

It is to be made clearer who owns the trusts in a move designed to tackle corruption in the property sector.

Currently, the identity of the beneficiary is not always recorded or publicly available, potentially leading to secrecy or corruption in the sector, the Government says.

The new plans will mean residents, the media and the public will be able to find out who owns land and property, as well as who controls it and receives financial benefit from it.

‘Veil of secrecy’

Michael Gove, Housing Secretary

Housing secretary Michael Gove says: “It matters who really owns land and property. These proposals will lift the veil of secrecy currently afforded to land-holding trusts.

“Transparency about land ownership is crucial if we want to make our housing and land markets fairer. In its absence, injustices, corruption and crime can flourish.”

A consultation on the plans runs for eight weeks, and seeks views on widening access to trust information held on the Register of Overseas Entities.

The Register for Overseas Entities is imperative in ensuring we weed out kleptocrats and oligarchs buying up British properties under false names”.

Kevin Hollinrake MP

Hollinrake, minister for small business and co-founder of the Hunters chain, says: “The Register for Overseas Entities is imperative in ensuring we weed out kleptocrats and oligarchs buying up British properties under false names, and has already helped identify absent landlords so that they can be held to account.”

The changes will make it as easy as possible for people to access all land and property ownership data across a range of different public registers.

Greater transparency will help tackle illicit finance and corruption in the system, the Government says, with offshore trusts in the UK property sector identified as posing a higher risk of money laundering.

More on money laundering

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London tops the league table of the worst performing regions for new home completions, according to hybrid estate agency eXp UK.

Figures for the last 10 years show that the capital is the poorest performing part of England for average homes built in a year.

eXp analysed data on the number of dwellings completed across each region of the country.

The data shows that last year (2022-23), 174,600 new homes were delivered, with the South East seeing the largest number of new homes at 30,960.

Over the last 10 years, the average level of new homes reaching the market across England has increased by 4.1% each year.

Negative

London is the only region to have seen negative movement in this respect, with new dwelling completions falling by -0.3% each year on average over the last decade.

By contrast, the North West has seen an average increase of 10% per year, followed by the West Midlands (8%) and the South East (4%).

On an annual basis, 2% more homes were delivered across the nation with London topping the table in this respect with an 18% uplift in new homes completed.

Newbuilds

The East of England also saw a considerable increase of 17%, followed by the East Midlands (7%), South West (5%) and Yorkshire and the Humber (5%).

The number of new dwellings completed fell by 17% across the North West versus the previous year, with the West Midlands (-6%) and South East (-2%) also down year on year.

It actually ranks as the worst region when it comes to the delivery of new homes on a long-term basis.”

Adam Day, International Expansion Leader, eXp UK

Adam Day, head of eXp UK, says: “Housing delivery is, and always has been, a controversial topic, and we’re yet to see the Government make any meaningful impact when it comes to addressing the current housing crisis.

“While the London market may have enjoyed a very strong year, it actually ranks as the worst region when it comes to the delivery of new homes on a long-term basis.”

Read more about newbuilds.

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