Housebuilders restart on sites as stock sells quicker than expected
16 July, 2009
Housebuilders are starting construction again, but it will do little to increase historically low levels of output this year.
While several of the major housebuilders released positive trading updates last week – in which they confirmed they would once again start work on new sites – the build programmes are unlikely to push output beyond forecasts of 70,000 new homes in 2009, serving only to replenish dwindling stock levels.
Barratt told shareholders it had 822 unreserved stock units at 30 June, which equates to just less than four weeks’ supply at current sales rates. The figure is down 55 per cent from its 1,821 units at 30 June, 2008.
Bovis Homes has 480 finished homes left, just over half the 754 homes it sold in the six months to 30 June, and well down on the 1,000 it had at the beginning of the year.
Galliford Try has just 80 completed stock units left to sell, compared to 280 a year ago.
And Persimmon said it has 390 sites with stock remaining compared to 460 this time last year. The firm said it now plans to start work on a further 50 new developments over the next six months.
MF Global house building analyst Andrew Gardner said: "The housebuilders have perhaps run down stocks a little quicker than expected."
But Home Builders Federation director of external affairs, John Slaughter, said he still expected the 2009/10 financial year to be a low point in terms of homes built.
Panmure Gordon analyst Rachael Waring said: "This is a very key point in time for the housebuilders.
"They have got to carefully manage how many new sites they start with the demand for homes. They do not want to find themselves back at the banks in six months’ time looking to borrow more money."
The Construction Products Association has upped its forecast for homes built in 2009 to 72,000 from 70,000.
The Association forecasts 2010 will see a further increase in production with 99,000 homes built, but it is still well down on 2007’s 182,000.
Source: cnplus.co.uk
Almost £1bn of new BSF projects to start in 2009/10
16 July, 2009 | By Rhiannon Hoyle
The Government has set out proposals to start new Building Schools for the Future programmes in 18 more local authority areas over the next nine months, at a value of almost £1 billion.
Regions that will be first to benefit from the building boost include Barnet, Bolton, Hampshire, Peterborough, Sunderland and Wigan.
All six councils have been given the green light for a "rolling start" with their programmes, which together will be worth almost £500 million.
Schools secretary Ed Balls said a further six local authority projects would join the programme in three months time and then another six in the last quarter of the 2009-10.
He also announced the setting up of a £200 million fund to build permanent classrooms for reception pupils in areas facing exceptional growth in demand.
The money will be earmarked for a series of schemes to be rolled out over the next two years.
Local authorities have four weeks to bid for the funding and allocations will be made in September – with funding released in 2010-11.
Source: cnplus.co.uk
Government unveils new low-carbon strategy
15 July, 2009
By Sophie Griffiths
Growth of wind power and home insulation are among proposals aiming to meet 2020 targets on efficiency and emissions
A wide expansion of wind power and home insulation are among a series of measures planned by the government to build the UK's low-carbon future.
The proposals form part of the Carbon Transition Plan, which ministers hope will help them meet 2020 targets for slashing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing renewable energy use.
The plan, which the government admitted would lead to consumers paying more for energy, is due to be published later today.
Government unveils new low-carbon strategy
15th July 2009
To meet EU targets the UK must source 15% of energy from renewables by 2020The latest government figures show that carbon emissions have already fallen by 22% from 1990.
The Low Carbon Transition Plan and its associated measures will plot a path towards the 2020 target of 34%.
It is also hoped the new measures will push the UK economy to meet EU targets for 2020 of 15% of power being sourced from renewables and a 20% increase in energy efficiency.
Meanwhile, the government has set a goal of cutting emissions 80% by 2050.
Source: building.co.uk
RICS UK Construction Market Survey, Q1 2009
27th May 2009
Workloads in the first three months of the year continued to weaken across the board, but some key areas, including housing, saw an easing in the pace of the decline, says the RICS construction market survey.
Construction workloads remained in negative territory for the fourth consecutive quarter with 45 percent more surveyors reporting a fall rather than a rise in overall workloads in the first quarter, up from a net balance of -47.
Both private and public housing saw a slight improvement in the number of surveyors reporting falling workloads, with 49 percent more surveyors reporting a fall than a rise in private housing, up from -66 percent, and 13 percent reporting a fall than a rise in public housing, 7 percent less than the previous quarter.
"This slight easing we are seeing in both public and private housing is broadly in line with the figures coming from the Government on the number of housing starts, which saw a small rise in the first quarter of 2009, and could be aligned to recent signs of a gentle pick-up in activity in the housing market," - RICS chief economist Simon Rubinsohn.
Private commercial and industrial workloads recorded the worst figures, with net balances of -57 and -61 respectively; whilst the infrastructure sector saw an accelerated pace of decline, the fastest in the survey’s history, with 34 percent more surveyors reporting a fall than a rise.
Many respondents cited a lack of available finance and the delay in public sector projects as the main cause of pessimism for the current market.
The outlook for the next twelve months remains downbeat. Expectations for future workloads improved slightly in the first quarter, with 38 percent more surveyors expecting a fall than a rise, up from 45 at the end of 2008.
The net balance of surveyors expecting employment levels to fall remained fairly constant with 46 percent more surveyors expecting employment levels to fall.
However 72 percent more surveyors expected profits to be down over the coming months.
Simon Rubinsohn continues:
"Activity is still declining across the construction sector, but it appears to be doing so at a lesser rate than was previously the case and public sector projects will play a key role in any recovery as long as the finance is made available to prevent them from stalling.
"Despite some sub-sectors showing slightly more positive signs, construction output is likely to post a double digit drop over the course of 2009 with a further loss of employment and skills in the industry."
Source: www.rics.org
