Support for new homes has risen slightly in the last year up from 55 per cent of people in 2017, according to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s 2018 British Social Attitudes Survey of 2,510 people.
But it saw the biggest gains in the early part of the last decade. In 2010, 28 per cent of people were in support of more homes being built, increasing to 47 per cent in 2013.
In 2018 some 23 per cent of people said they were opposed to the idea of more homes being built in their local area and of those who were not in support, 33 per cent said they would actively object to their development.
New build positivity
Perhaps surprisingly given high levels of complaints, people had positive attitudes towards new builds as 46 per cent of people thought they were well designed while 36 per cent said they were well built.
Of those who felt new builds were well built, 31 per cent said they were ‘quite well built’ and five per cent said they were ‘very well built’.
Some 30 per cent said they were badly built, with 25 per cent saying new builds were ‘quite badly built’ and six per cent said they were ‘very badly built’.
Some 61 per cent of those who believed new builds were well designed were more likely to support their development, compared with the 53 per cent who thought they were poorly designed.
Likely buyers
Renters were more likely to consider buying a new build home, with 47 per cent of private renters and 42 per cent of social renters saying so compared to 35 per cent of owners.
Younger people were also more likely to consider buying a new build home than older people, with 50 per cent of those aged 18-25 and 48 per cent aged 26-35 reporting that they would consider buying a new build home.
This is in comparison to 33 per cent aged 46 to 55, and 32 per cent of those aged 66 and over.
Developer contributions
When it came to the 57 per cent of people who were aware that developer contributions meant the council had the power to make companies build affordable housing, there was no more support or opposition to newly developed homes compared to those who were unaware of the initiative.
