Tag: House prices

No predictions, just 3 hopes for 2016

If you’ve read any posts, columns and opinions about 2015, it would be easy to think that last year was a bad one.

Columnisrs have negative tendencies, but it seems that there’s plenty to trouble us. Terrorism, austerity, economic under-performance, migration, Europe and runaway house prices all point to a bad year.

I’ve also had many conversations about ‘leadership failure’ over many of these issues. It seems that people have had enough of being soft-soaped. This was demonstrated in Jeremy Corbyn’s extraordinary victory over the ‘Westminster elite’ in the Labour leadership campaign. It was also expressed in nastier ways through trolling and threats dealt out on social media.

Opinion formers have an appetite for predictions at this time of year. After so many people called the big events wrong in 2015, it’s daft to attempt it for the coming year.

I want to be optimistic and set out some hopes for 2016. Some relate to national issues, others are more local and there’s a personal one too. All are important to me and, if they happen, it should be a good year.

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If where you live matters, join the #WEbuildourfuture conversation

WEbuildourfuture images

A big conversation is happening around Bristol that could shape local housing and transport for decades to come.

For the last few weeks, I’ve been working with colleagues to get ready for a major consultation which could map where thousands of new homes are built across the West of England over the next 20 years.

The phrase ‘West of England Joint Spatial Plan and Transport Study‘ won’t set pulses racing. But the issues it covers should interest anyone who has views about where they live, how they get to work or school or whether they will be able to keep a roof over the heads in future.

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House prices hit home for Cornish MP

Cornwall’s house price problem hit the headlines again today, with news that local MP Stephen Gilbert can’t afford to buy a house in his constituency.

Mr Gilbert, MP for St Austell and Newquay, put his PR skills to good use by using his own circumstances to highlight the problems faced by locals who have no hope of saving for a 20% deposit in high value areas like Cornwall.

He said today: “This isn’t a ‘woe-is-me’ plea – that would be nonsense. But if I am in this position, finding it hard to save for the deposit for a mortgage to become a first-time-buyer, there must be lots of other people in a similar predicament.”

Leaving aside the £65,000-a-year headlines, he’s right to talk about the problem: Cornwall has the lowest average incomes in the country and the highest house prices, more than 15 times most people’s salaries in some areas. Those who can afford to buy are often ‘second home’ owners, who are reported to account for 10% of the local population.

He calls for better use of empty homes as one way of addressing the issue. Building more new affordable housing would help too, and the HCA is one organisation which has invested significantly in this area in recent years.

From this adversity comes some inspired community-driven solutions too. A self build scheme at St Minver, backed by a local Community Land Trust, is helping local people address the  problem. Self build is something I’ve been contemplating recently too.

Maybe though, as Michael Portillo suggested to the CIH South West conference last Friday, a fall in house prices would help Cornwall too?

Any of these is part of the solution, but can’t crack Cornwall’s crisis on its own. I’m sure local people like Mr Gilbert don’t need me to tell them that.

Is ‘self build’ the answer to our housing headache?

Self Build

I remember the feeling as a reporter when I wrote about workers who were taking action over what they perceived to be bad wages, and would realise they were paid more than me.

I’m reminded of this today when I hear of measures aimed at helping young families onto the housing ladder and the need to address the country’s housing crisis.

I am not debt ridden, or badly paid. But when Grant Shapps talks of young families who are caught in a pincer movement between the paucity of available credit, high housing prices and the substantial deposits needed to get decent mortgages, it feels like he could be talking about me.

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