How will Labour’s new plans impact the property market?

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The new Labour government aims to kickstart Britain's construction industry by unblocking the planning system, creating new towns, and permitting development on parts of the green belt. However, can these plans overcome inevitable opposition? Property commentator Anne Ashworth poses the questions to Dominic Agace, Chief Executive of Winkworth, and Adam Stackhouse, Managing Director of Winkworth Developments and Commercial Investments who offer some insights into the new government’s plans.

Smaller housebuilders and developers are agile, don’t need to answer to shareholders and will have more in-depth understanding of the local area. The government needs to target this group and offer incentives to help them deliver high quality housing quickly, according to Adam Stackhouse, Head of Developments and Commercial Investments at Winkworth, which has a nationwide network of over 100 offices.

He told the latest episode of Winkworth’s Property Exchange podcast: “The larger scale housebuilders that the government may attempt to seduce just simply won't respond, because they're probably obliged to honour their shareholder requirements. Small to medium house builders are far more agile, and they can call on a local workforce with a degree of pace. They’re more sensitive to local architecture and community tastes. If we can encourage them to step forward and have decent banking facilities to build, this could start to snowball quite quickly.

“We've got to shift from this very low level of house building starts. We need a skilled workforce, and the government must reinvest in training. A decent standard of bricklayer, carpenter or electrician can be trained within three to four years. “There's some excitement that finally, local authorities will absolutely have to meet their housing targets. We are moving into a new era. The definition of new housing schemes in the UK is going to shift as the younger generation start taking more control and give more input over those decisions - with less of a threat from NIMBYs.

“The lack of planning officers and the lack of infrastructure for decision making has created a vacuum. We now need to see people with fresh ideas to create homes more relevant to the modern working population, to an age group where they're not looking back in the housing history books but looking ahead as to how homes should look in the future. This is an opportunity for a completely new era in house building.”

Winkworth’s Chief Executive Dominic Agace highlighted the need for the Government to help first time buyers financially as well as building more new homes and to be wary of forcing private rental landlords to leave the sector. He told the podcast: “Stamp duty exemptions for first time buyers will expire in 2025 and the Government needs to address this.

“For renters, the danger is scaring off landlords. There is a shortfall of 120,000 rental properties needed to stem rental price inflation. There is no new buy to let investors in the marketplace and that's because interest rates have gone up and legislation has increased. There is an ageing landlord base and if they do sell up, there's no one replacing them. We need rental homes for young professionals. Any new legislation must give an investor some rights that will enable them feel comfortable to make the investment and be able to manage antisocial tenants. If there is a reliance on a court system that is incredibly clogged up, taking many months, and an investor is stuck with an antisocial tenant doing damage to his property, and not paying the bills while the landlord has a mortgage to pay, then there is no exit for the investor. We want people to live in good rental accommodation, and start their careers, and get away from the slum landlords of bygone eras. We need to get the balance right, having practical solutions in place.”