Monday morning briefing 2025 09 29
- hammondjon
- Sep 30
- 3 min read
We’re into party conference season, and of course the Labour government has made 1.5mn homes and #planning reform central to their economic and social ambition. Yesterday the government announced it would have started to deliver the 3 #newtowns within this parliament (Leeds, Beds and N. London are the preferred sites from a short list of 12). @Kate Henderson of the @National Housing Federation is at the conference and has some good updates here on LinkedIn.
However the current reality is #planning applications are down, #starts are down and therefore #completions will reduce. These issues need addressing quickly, and proposals being investigated include the Mayor of London’s office reducing the number of #affordable homes from 35% to help kick start the sector. London has an annual target of 88,000 homes but in H1 completed just 3,950 homes. Among developers reporting a reduction in completions were @L&Q and @Guinness, at the affordable end of the market.
Last week also saw the @Urban Living News #UrbanLivingFestival and @LDEvents #LivingUK. Oddly both on the same day across London from each other, they both had a great focus on #BTR, #SFH (not covered in the current ARL agenda for November) and #CoLiving with BTR seeing @Damien Sharkey of @Hub winning Disrupter of the Year and @Anil Khera of @Node Visionary of the Year at Urban Living. Congratulations.
A week or so before was @Prop Tech Connect and the team at @Housed Podcast have an interesting conversation on their current edition about the lack of #AI and reliance on legacy tech providers for the #livingsector. The property space has traditionally been slow to adopt tech and specifically #operationalliving has been working with legacy systems for #PRS and #Hospitality. Early adopters in the space will reap rewards.
@LDS Devco has appointed @Fresh to mobilise, market and manage the @Biscuit Factory #PBSA scheme on Donegall Street in Belfast city centre.Due to open in 2026/7 the scheme will have 724 beds reports @BE News
If the legislation is passed, #student housing will be exempt from those #rentcontrols in #Scotland reports @Joe Mellor and @PBSA News
A property in the capital that is 500m (0.31 miles) away from a station is 8% more expensive than a similar property 1,500m (0.93 miles) from one, a study by Nationwide found. A premium of 4.6% is placed on Manchester properties too, reports the BBC.
UAE developer @Arada has entered the UK market with the acquisition of a 75% stake in @Regal, the London-based residential led mixed-use developer and is set to invest £500mn reports @property week
Property Week also published a report stating executive pay in property was 21% down since Covid, and listed the top 40 earners in the sector. You’ll need to subscribe, but you’ll know who to ask if you need to borrow a tenner.
@Property District reports that #developers, estate agents and charities have formed a coalition due to announce its strategy for tackling the crisis in new homes before the 2026 #Irish budget, where the government has hinted at developer tax breaks to tackle housing crisis.
The photos this week are of the really impressive @Liberties House co-living in #Dublin, part of the @Grayling portfolio. There will be no new coliving developments in Ireland despite the housing shortage as the Irish government banned new planning applications in 2020.
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