Comment

The latest news, features, comment and analysis of the UK housebuilding market covering policy, regulation, planning, technology, new developments and products

Steve Menary

Can the SMEs fill the housing supply gap?

Nov. 1, 2013 Comment

Steve Menary looks at the latest results from the listed housebuilders and wonders whether some of the smaller players have the potential to up their output to drive the industry towards 200,000 homes a year

Ground rents attracting institutional investment

Nov. 1, 2013 Comment

Housebuilders and developers can add significant value to their returns by disposing of their freeholds, taking advantage of historically high ground rent prices says Richard Jones, group head of regeneration and growth at EC Harris

Housing to the fore in conference season

Nov. 1, 2013 Comment

HBF executive chairman Stewart Baseley gives the industry reaction to the high profile of housebuilding in the political conference season and addresses Ed Miliband's "use it or lose it" threat on land

John Stewart

Making planning work

Nov. 1, 2013 Comment

To achieve the required step-change in housebuilding, local authorities must accept responsibility for meeting the housing needs of their whole community and there must be a much more realistic view of the role and limits of planning, says John<br />Stewart

Ben Roskrow

Help to Buy at centre of the political debate

Nov. 1, 2013 Comment

At the HMI conference shadow communities secretary Hilary Benn did not dwell on the initiative for long, but what he did say was that the Bank of England should review it now, not in a year&rsquo;s time

Exploring Help to Buy

Oct. 1, 2013 Comment

Keith Barker, commercial director at Wienerberger, says suppliers and housebuilders need to work together to meet the demand increase generated by the Help to Buy initiative

Steve Menary

Back on land and plans

Oct. 1, 2013 Comment

With land buying firmly back on the agenda,&nbsp;Steve Menary looks at the landbanks of the&nbsp;big players and where they are planning to build

Business models emerge from the ashes of recession

Oct. 1, 2013 Comment

Richard Jones, group head of regeneration and growth at EC Harris, says that&nbsp;the recession has prompted a re-evaluation of business models, sometimes&nbsp;prompting radical change, sometimes merely fine tuning

John Stewart

Industry capacity key to solving supply crisis

Oct. 1, 2013 Comment

To have any hope of solving our housing supply crisis we need to restore pre-1991 supply conditions so that housebuilders can respond to market demand and industry capacity can expand

Ben Roskrow

Joy for Osborne as builders start to deliver

Oct. 1, 2013 Comment

Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey and Barratt all issued statements confirming their positive view of the market and their plans to build more