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How the housing landscape is set to shift

Halifax Intermediaries
How the housing landscape is set to shift
Andy Dean
Written By:
Posted:
February 4, 2025
Updated:
February 4, 2025

Plans are already underway to transform and accelerate the way we build homes. Andy Dean, head of housing development and sustainability at Halifax Intermediaries looks at what is changing

There’s an air of positivity in the market during this year’s Home Builders Federation’s New Homes Week.  A new focus from the government on overcoming the barriers to increasing housing supply feels refreshing.

It’s not that the government’s plans are a silver bullet, because most of us understand that ‘getting Britain building’ at the rates needed will be a huge challenge and will take time.

But the change of approach, tone, pace and overall outlook since the general election is boosting confidence among many in the housing market that the government’s pledges will translate into real change.

Whether or not you think the building targets will be achieved in the timeframe proposed, there is evidence to suggest that they’re acting as a force for positive action, encouraging government, lenders and the housing industry to work together to build more homes in the right places. And that must be a good thing.

 

What’s changing?

There has been an abundance of housing market pledges, commitments and work already underway in the first six months of the new government, alongside some that were already in motion.

It can be hard to keep up, so here’s a brief round-up of some of the major housing market changes to come.

  • A target of building 1.5 million new homes during this Parliament.
  • A commitment to delivering the ‘biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation’.
  • A pledge to publish a long-term housing strategy, anticipated in the middle of this year.
  • Reform of the National Planning Policy Framework – a revised framework was published in December, following consultation, including mandatory housing targets for local authorities; designating parts of the green belt as ‘grey belt’ which can be developed on subject to the Government’s ‘golden rules’; and making explicit a ‘brownfield-first’ policy.
  • A commitment to a new generation of ‘new towns’ with a new independent taskforce, which is due to report back with recommendations on suitable locations by the end of the year.
  • An injection of £500m in extra grant funding to top up the existing Affordable Homes Programme and a commitment to bringing forward details relating to the future level of public investment in social and affordable housing in the middle of this year.
  • A consultation on a new long-term social housing rent settlement.
  • Reform of the Right to Buy scheme, including reducing discounts.
  • The launch of a ‘New Homes Accelerator’ to unblock the delivery of stalled housing developments.
  • £46m of additional funding to support the recruitment and training of 300 graduates and apprentices into local planning authorities to support planning reform.
  • £3bn in debt guarantees to support SMEs and the Build to Rent sector in applying for finance from lenders.
  • Funding for a new joint venture to deliver 3,000 affordable energy-efficient new homes.
  • The introduction of the Future Homes Standard, with the aim of making all new homes ‘zero-carbon ready’.

That’s a lot of changes, but they all support the same goal – an increase in the delivery of homes of all types.

How Halifax is helping

Halifax, as part of Lloyds Banking Group, plays a key role in the housing market.

We’re the UK’s largest lender and work closely with government, homebuilders and partners across the market. We take our responsibility to help Britain prosper seriously, investing time and money to broaden access to homeownership as well as fund affordable homebuilding.

This includes:

  • The Made Partnership – a joint venture between Barratt Redrow PLC, Homes England and Lloyds Banking Group to deliver large housing developments.
  • Convening the industry – the second LBG Housing Senate brought together 160 senior leaders from across the industry with 22 expert speakers and panellists to share ideas and experiences that will help deliver change in the housing market.
  • Championing the social housing sector – we’ve supported £18.5bn of funding to the sector since 2018, working with over 340 housing associations and, with our charity partner Crisis, are campaigning for the delivery of one million more homes for social rent over the next decade.
  • As well as offering green mortgages, we now capture EPC data on application and use it in all our affordability calculations.
  • Lloyds Living is our own private landlord with a large and growing portfolio of 5,000 homes for rent and shared ownership across the UK.
  • Access to finance – as the UK’s largest lender, we support new-build lending, including supporting shared ownership, and help first-time buyers onto the ladder, through high-LTV (95%) and high-LTI (5.5 times) lending.

 

 

What does this mean for intermediaries?

Taken together, these initiatives are really positive, because it is clear that the government has placed housing delivery at the centre of its mission to generate economic growth.

This creates opportunities for mortgage intermediaries. A rise in new homebuilding could mean more requests for new-build mortgages, as well as an increase in homeownership schemes. More new homes also means more energy-efficient homes, which could boost the take-up of green mortgages.

Check you are up to date with what’s on offer in these specific mortgage sectors, that you understand the main homeownership schemes, such as shared ownership, and forge relationships with local homebuilders if you don’t already have them.

Mortgage intermediaries are ideally suited to guide borrowers who want to buy a newly built home. By expanding your expertise in this space, you can make the most of the sector’s growth and support more of your clients into a home of their own.

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