Remove barriers to boost house building levels, says Savills

Private house builders could start building significantly more new homes in England if barriers to growth were cut, according to Savills. A new report from the property firm makes various recommendations on ways that house building levels could be increased, with a view to reducing the ever growing supply-demand imbalance in the market. The recommendations include increasing planning consents in high demand areas; boosting the supply of land; continued support for residential property developers and a rise in the building rate of local authorities and other bodies. In spite of a rise in the volume of new housing starts in recent months, Savills reported that there still remains a major shortfall, owed in part to insufficient land available for residential development. The report by Savills said there was the potential to construct 205,000 new homes per year, up 64,500 compared to the existing rate, if the supply of development land and planning consents increased in areas of high demand. At present, more than half of new homes – 54 per cent – are being built by the 11 largest house builders, while a third of new properties are being built by medium sized house builders. But Savills said that a…