Melanie Leech, Chief Executive, British Property Federation comments:
“We welcome the Government’s focus on new housing delivery in urban areas and making best use of brownfield land, and the recognition of Mayoral Combined Authorities as trusted delivery partners and that all housing tenures will play a key role in achieving these ambitions. This will include new homes to buy, and purpose-built homes for renters and housing for older people.
“Build-to-rent – new, high-quality, professionally-managed homes for renters – works particularly well as an urban, brownfield product. It has seen strong growth across the regions in recent years – with 26,500 new build-to-rent homes currently completed and 68,500 under construction and in planning in cities such as Leeds, Sheffield, Birmingham, Leicester and Manchester.
“It is hugely positive that the Government will revise the 80/20 rule – any housebuilding should have access to government support to ensure that wherever you live, you get the essential infrastructure that supports housing growth.
“The challenge, however, is that housebuilding alone will not ‘level up’ the North. The Government is still missing a piece to the jigsaw – the delivery of new homes must go hand-in-hand with new employment opportunities and new investment into our town and city centres. This will require working alongside the commercial real estate sector, to facilitate its investment into new, modern retail and leisure environments, logistics space, community facilities and services, and healthcare. This will no doubt be a priority for the Urban Centre Recovery Task Force and we look forward to working with Peter Freeman, the Chair of Homes England, to take this forward.”