2019 – an uncertain year

It has become usual for me, at this time of year, to review my predictions for last year and consider what the next year has in store for housing.

Last year I expected landbanking to be a particular focus for government. At the heart of its concern was the belief that landbanking was a significant contributor to the low level of housing output.Sir Oliver Letwin was asked to analyse the market and he discounted that landbanking, by definition, was the problem. However he recommended different ways of bringing more land into production primarily through diversification of product.

I also referred to the role of Homes England and questioned its impact on creating innovative delivery solutions. During 2018 HE published its five year strategic plan and, probably understanding government’s concern on the still relatively low levels of housing output, picked up on the theme of increasing housing numbers delivered by defining itself as a “housing accelerator”, a slightly different emphasis to its previous predominate facilitation role. I think …