New House Building slumps by 50.52%

Gloucester Property Market Crisis as New House Building slumps by 50.52%

One of the key factors that determine the price of anything is the demand and supply of the item that is being bought and sold. When it comes to property, demand can change overnight, but it takes years and years to build new properties, thus increasing the supply.

The Conservatives have pledged to build over 1 million homes by 2020. I am of the opinion that as a country, irrespective of which party, we have not built enough homes for decades, and if the gap between the number of households forming and the number of new homes being built continues to grow, we are in danger of not being able to house our children or grand children. I believe the country is past the time for another grand statement of ambition by another Housing Minister. Surely it’s right to give normal Gloucester families back the hope of a secure home, be that rented or owned? 

To give you an idea of the sorts of numbers we are talking about, in the Gloucester City Council area in 2006, 710 properties were built. In 2007 that rose to 880 and a year later in 2008, it peaked at 970. By 2014, that figure had dropped by a massive 50.52% to 480 properties built.

The outcome of too few homes being built in Gloucester means the working people of the city are being priced out of buying their first home and renters are not getting the quality they deserve for their money. The local authority isn't building the estates they were after the war and housing associations are having their budgets tightened year on year, meaning they have less money to spend on building new properties. I know of many Gloucester youngsters, who are living with their parents for longer because they cannot afford to get onto the housing ladder and growing families are unable to buy the bigger homes they need.

I talk to many Gloucester business people and they tell me they need a flexible and mobile workforce, but the high cost of moving home and lack of decent and affordable housing are barriers to attracting and retaining employees. Furthermore, building new homes is a powerful source of growth, creating jobs across the county and supporting hundreds of Gloucester businesses. It is true that landlords have taken up the mantle and over the last 15 years have bought a large number of properties. The Government need to be thankful to all those Gloucester landlords, who own the 9,508 rental properties in the city. Most local landlords only have a handful of rented properties (to aid their retirement), and without them, I honestly don’t know who would house all the extra people in Gloucester!

Please feel free to contact me on neil.west@belvoir.co.uk