Monday morning briefing 2025 10 27

hammondjon
Oct 27
2 min read

Another Monday and another week to celebrate. Congratulations to the @Love to Rent team and of course all the nominees and winners last Friday. More on that below.

-> It has been confirmed that the number of affordable homes required in London will drop from 35% to 20%. Described as ‘extraordinary’ by housing associations but ‘necessary’ by developers

-> a £322mn Developer Investment Fund has also been created to further incentivise construction in the capital

-> According to the Home Builders Federation, only 30,000 new homes were built in London in the year to June, far below the government’s target of 88,000 reports Industry Eye

-> Latest figures from Zoopla show new home sales have fallen for the first time in two years as house price growth slows to 1.3%, roughly in line with last year.

Uncertainty over the November Budget is prompting a “wait and see” approach among buyers.

-> AustraliaSuper, Australia's largest pension fund has launched a new UK #livingsector platform with an initial £500m investment in rental homes.

-> Birmingham City Council has approved an outline planning application for the regeneration of Druids Heath offering around 3,500 new homes, 51% of which will be affordable, alongside green spaces, new infrastructure and transport links.

-> Ambitious plans are also set to transform Birmingham’s Digbeth area. The Warwick Bar Prospectus will create 1,700 new homes and 110,000 sq ft of creative workspaces

-> The Renters Rights' Bill has completed its passage through Parliament, though no time frames are yet confirmed, this does mean that we now have confirmed the contents, with any further changes requiring secondary legislation.

-> The first phase of Awaab’s Law comes into effect in England from today and will impact social but not yet private landlords to fix emergency health and safety hazards within 24 hours of reporting, investigate significant damp and mould within 10 working days of being notified

-> In Ireland, The PBSA Council of Ireland welcomes confirmation from Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe that the reduced 9% VAT rate will apply to purpose-built student accommodation

-> Facing similar challenges to the U.K. housing data shows an uplift in new home completions for the year to date, at 24,325, up 13%. Yet, beneath that headline, there’s a note of caution: completions actually stalled in the last quarter, slipping 4% since Q2 reports Carol Tallon and Property District

-> Ireland is also facing a challenging legislative agenda with rent caps, 6 year tenancies and reviews to market rents only between tenancies set to come into force next March.

-> Again, a massive congratulations to all involved with the @Love to Rent Awards, and special mention goes to friends and colleagues at @Nirvana Maintenance, @Iterum, @Apo, @Verv Life, @Quintain Living, @way of life and @Sigma Capital