We kick off this week’s editor’s picks with some interesting research from Centre for Cities on “new towns” and how much of a role they will play in Labour’s ambitious housebuilding pledge.

The research showed that building new towns, like Milton Keynes, in the last 40 years has made up 3.3% of English housing stock, delivering around 307,000 houses. This means that new towns may only make up a small part of Labour’s one-and-a-half million home pledge.

Next in our editor’s picks is the latest Diversity and Inclusivity Finance Forum (DIFF) podcast featuring Alan Longhorn, head of sales, distribution and marketing at Bank of Ireland, and Liz Syms, CEO and founder of Connect Mortgages, talking about how they got into the mortgage industry and how age and education should not be a barrier to someone doing a job.

Specialist Lending Solutions’ interview with Jon Hall, group managing director for mortgages and savings at OSB Group, said that areas of growth for the firm would be commercial, bridging and product transfers.

Research from Moverly also showed that the UK has the slowest housing transaction process out of 12 nations, taking an average of 179 days or six months for a sale to complete.

Sponsored

Welcome to the future: how collaboration is driving the shift to digital home buying

Sponsored by Halifax Intermediaries

Quilter’s research showing that the number of young people securing a mortgage falling by 13% in the past two years is also interesting, if concerning, and raises questions about the efficacy of certain first-time buyer schemes, the firm said.

New towns make up just 3% of housing stock

DIFF podcast: If you’re good enough to do a job, then you’re old enough – Longhorn

Performance ‘really positive’ with PT, commercial and bridging growth on cards, OSB Group’s Hall says

UK has ‘slowest’ housing transaction process, research finds

Number of young people securing a mortgage has dropped 13% since 2021, Quilter says