Minister pushes for Rent Reforms. Buyers looking at cheaper homes and longer mortgages. Housing at the Tory Party Conference.

Housing Minister continues to push for the Renters Reform Bill

Rachael Maclean, the Housing Minister, continues to push for the Renters Reform Bill first presented in May. ?

The Minister said: "There are plenty of young people who are in the PRS (private rented sector) who are not weed-smoking bad people, in gangs and crack dens and everything else and smashing up the neighbourhood”.

The Renters Reform Bill mandates the end of no-fault evictions, however landlords will still be able to evict tenants to sell the property, or for close family to move in.

The bill should reach its second reading in August as it progresses through the parliamentary approval process.

In its current form, the bill has met criticism for not being a normal Conservative Party policy, with many claiming it will not meet support from the Conservative MPs.

Buyers looking at smaller and cheaper properties

Nationwide Building Society has found that home buyers are looking at less expensive properties. ?

Nationwide's Chief Economist said: "There are signs that more buyers are looking towards smaller, less expensive properties, with transaction volumes for flats holding up better than other property types.

"This may be because affordability for flats has held up relatively better as they experienced less of a price increase over the pandemic period."

With mortgage rates higher than previously, the aspiration and desire for homeownership are still there.

However, the affordability squeeze means that many are looking at smaller and cheaper properties to get a mortgage they can afford.

With last week’s announcement that the Bank of England would maintain the inflation rate of 5.25% for the first time in over a year. The cost of borrowing should soon start to come down, as lenders look to become more competitive.

New Homes industry professionals cite quality construction as the most important aspect to success.

74% of those surveyed cited quality construction as the most important aspect of a new homes business.

6% voted for the sales process and aftercare respectfully. A further 15% voted for "another option", saying all are equally important, quality land acquisitions and speedy planning processes.

With quality construction, fewer issues are produced further down the line.

But when living in an imperfect world there will always be issues further down the line.

Experian finds younger buyers looking at longer mortgages

Experian has found that 25% of new homeowners aged 29 and under are opting for mortgages of 35 years.

Normally mortgages run for 25 years. On a longer loan, monthly repayments are less.

However, borrowers will often end up paying more for their loans overall.

James Jones, head of Consumer Affairs at Experian said: “Our data suggests that people under 30 are looking to secure longer mortgage repayment terms to help keep monthly repayments down on their homes, and this could also be affecting property-buying among house hunters.”

Back in August, Sweden limited their mortgage periods to 105 years.

Longer loans abroad have frequently been leveraged by banks to enable more people to purchase homes.

Housing at the Conservative Party Conference

Housing is set to be a main talking point in next year’s general election and there are numerous developments that teams need to know about.

Centre for Cities, hosted a panel discussion asking, “How do we fix the housing crisis” at the conference with the Minister for Housing and Planning, Leeds Building Society Chief Executive and Ben Everitt MP.

Numerous speakers have cited the housing sector as a point of contention, including former PM Liz Truss.

Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Housing and Levelling Up addressed the Nutrient Neutrality bill’s rejection, committing to drive it through parliament.

The Centre for Policy Studies hosted a panel discussing rethinking the green belt and housing crisis.

All signs that the sector is set to be a matter of importance come next year's election.

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