Welcome to the Editorial section of our blog which focuses on issues affecting the UK housebuilding industry, and specifically how they impact on the new homes job market. We try to provide useful articles that will help you with your job search or find the talent to strengthen your residential development business. We also conduct research into trends in the UK housing job market and publish the resulting data and conclusions.
Housebuilding News 20th Feb 2012
Some interesting developments in the past week have emerged with regards to the governments new mortgage scheme, which allows buyers to put down a deposit of just 5% on a new home. More information on the scheme has only really emerged in drips and drabs, and it has now acquired the name NewBuy. It is anticipated that the full details will be announced in early March, but it is expected to be a great help to those both first time buyers and buyers further up the property ladder, who are looking to secure their first home.
Last week was marked by more figures from leading organisation monitoring the economy and it’s effect on housing and housebuilding. And, like many weeks before it, it has been a week of unexpected twists. The Council of Mortgage Lenders stated that lending was up on a year ago- Gross mortgage lending stood at £10.5bn in January, down 12% on December but up 10% on January 2011. However, like most economic news in the industry at present, one must take into account the particularly unpredictable macroeconomic trends at present. Still, the general mood amongst people involved in the industry is that any positive news is a good foundation upon which further growth can be built.
However the topsy-turvey nature of the current economic climate was strongly highlighted today with the collapse of Glasgow construction firm Donaghy. The Scottish construction firm was working on a number of major projects when it called in administrators KPMG. 175 jobs have reportedly been lost, although a skeleton staff of 10 has been kept on to monitor the winding up of the business. Whether or not business casualties like this are a result of weaker competitors being weeded out of the industry, or a symptom of the long term ill-health of the industry remains to be seen, as many of the larger firms remain in rude financial health.
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Tagged building, careers, construction, housebuilding, housing, new homes, recruit, recruitment, residential, UK
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Housebuilding News – 14th February 2012
Good news coming out of housebuilder Bellway this month stating that visitor levels to their sites are up by 20% In a trading on Tuesday, Bellway said it sold 2,455 homes in the six months to January 31 2012, compared to 2,332 in the same period a year ago. The firm expects operating margin to hit double digits. Sustainable growth- and critically- sustainable growth outside of London is key to generating recovery out of the current slump. This not being the only good news business story this week with Northern Ireland property business May Estates reporting a return to profit after a difficult few months.
In a related development- debate has been raging about the appropriateness of comments by certain government ministers this week regarding retirees taking up work in their 70s. There are an estimated 25 million empty bedrooms in this country- many believed to be in houses of older people who’s children have flown the nest. This again raises questions at that awkward juncture between the personal right to privacy and your own home, and the collective right of providing enough homes for everyone.
On another angle a not often discussed aspect of housebuilding was under scrutiny this week. Houses and housebuilding in the UK are responsible for about 20% of the UK’s carbon emissions, and ever-increasingly contentious topic at the moment. Discussions have been occurring on how Housing will fit into the Green Deal currently being debated in government. It is vitally important that the Department for Energy and Climate Change’s future programme offers the necessary incentives for homeowners and future housebuilders to reduce their carbon emissions.
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Tagged building, buyers guide, construction, housebuilding, housing, new homes, residential, UK
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Housebuilding News 6th February 2012
House prices figures for January are starting to be released by all of the major usual sources. Today, focusing on Halifax’s figures, it is interesting to note that they have recorded a small increase of 0.6% but at the same time Halifax reports that this is actually the same average value as a house in mid 2011. Showcasing a different viewpoint, Nationwide have stated that prices actually fell 0.2% in January. Perhaps, a stabilisation in the way house price fluctuations are recorded would be an important first step forward to addressing the current difficulties in the market.
Other news from Scotland this week, new laws have come in to place in to ease restrictions on homeowners making improvements to their own homes. Projects like extensions, sheds and garages will no longer require planning permission. The move is expected to inspire a flurry of activity, as the de-regulation will increase the speed and decrease the costs of improvements. This in turn allows homeowners to build real value in their properties which is going to be helpful for the housing markets prospects in the long run. Depending on how well this is received it’s possible that such regulations may come to be rolled out nationwide.
In other breaking news this morning, Richard Viner the chief executive of major construction firm, Shepherd Construction, has announced his resignation, being the third chief executive to do so at the troubled firm since 2008. Stability in a company from top to bottom is absolutely key if recovery is to be maintained, and these incidents do not do much for consumer confidence.
Housebuilding News 23rd January 2012
The mood in the industry has certainly improved in the last year. The general tone has changed from “negative outlook and decline” of 2008/2009 to the much more common buzzword of the moment. “uncertainty”. Neither positive nor negative news in the housing industry seems to be particularly abundant- This trend has continued with the Council of Mortgage Lenders recent report stating that the Eurozone crisis has created more uncertainty, but householders real incomes might well stabilise over the next few years.
A way out of the current uncertainty has been mooted by several think tanks, but the general consensus is that the problem is caused by broader economic factors. Despite this, the Homes and Communities Agency, a government body, has stated that local councils will form the back bone of any recovery, calling for them to take on a more assertive role in managing the local housing situation. This is in stark contrast to the general opinion of the last few years, which has been that local government’s role in regulating the housing market is a relic of history. There is a feeling of desperation that housing and planning controls need to be desperately loosened in order to keep up with the ever-expanding demand for housing.
These questions, and others, do not seem to have a clear answer. Late last week, The Future Homes Commission began it’s work to look at the future of housing in the UK. The commission has been formed through a partnership of architects and business leader- Sir John Banham. It hopes to shed new light on problems facing British housing in the 21st century, with a specific remit to look into finance and affordability, local communities and the housing market. The commission specifically wants to hear the opinions of the general public, and those involved in the industry.
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Tagged building, construction, development, housebuilding, new homes, recruitment, residential, UK
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Housebuilding Industry News 17th Jan 2012
The housebuilding world remains an unpredictable one, with some mixed news coming out from the largest housebuilders this week. Bovis Homes, has posted a rise in profits to £31 million this year, despite what they report as “challenging conditions” in the market place. Continued profitability in our biggest housebuilding companies is critical to maintaining the limp recovery we have been seeing in the housing market. In what may be surprising news to some, the company also reported an increase in average prices for every home built at a rate of 4.5% reaching a new average of £180,100, beating the national average rise.
However, not all housebuilders are reporting such great news. Banner Homes, have announced that they have approached their bankers for a £120 million refinancing package, which has been agreed with RBS. Banner Homes CEO Richard Werth didn’t seem to see the deal in a negative light, stating that; “This deal, with arguably some of the best names in banking on the high street, is a great achievement for the company and will allow us to develop the existing business further as well as provide us with support from a long term investment group.” Banner are not the only housebuilding company who have reported a re-financing deal, with Cala Homes also reporting a £180 million re-financing deal with their financial partners.
The third company which has been making headlines this week is Galliford Try, who have reported an increase in the final sales price of their properties by a whopping 17% since 2010, rising to an average price of £239,000. Galliford Try commented on the state of the market, and that particularly properties in the South East are driving the market forward with the rest of the country lagging behind. This is a common trend across the property market in the UK, with the higher concentration of wealth in the London area seemingly driving this trend.
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Tagged building, buyers guide, careers, housebuilding, housing, jobs, new homes, recruit, recruitment, residential, UK
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Housebuilding News – 10th January 2012
Happy New Year one and all! The new year begins and there are mixed opinions as to what the next 12 months will bring with regards to jobs and activity in the housebuilding market. Will there be recession? Growth? Only time will tell!
Starting with the economic news from the end of last year, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors reported that towards the end of last year sales in the housebuilding market remained reasonably steady. Other good news from this data showed that house prices fell at their slowest rate since June 2010, which is a spot of small comfort in a rather difficult world. Surveyors however were fairly pragmatic about the situation, suggesting that sales levels would remain flat, in light of the continuing economic difficulties.
In other news, there has been a shuffle around of executive staff in the New Year. The venerable Michael Ankers, is set to retire from the Construction Products Association, who is set to be replaced by Dr Diana Montgomery. On her appointment, Montgomery was quoted as saying “I am delighted to have this opportunity to lead the Construction Products Association and relish the prospect of representing the construction products community at a time of great economic challenge and opportunity” She will have her work cut out for her.
In a final piece of business news, reports coming in this afternoon that WJ Harte- a major provider of engineering work for housebuilders – has had to send home workers from it’s major facility in Bothwell, and is reportedly close to calling in the administrators. If this was to happen, then it would be the latest casualty in the slump in housebuilding.
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Tagged building, careers, construction, development, housebuilding, housing, jobs, new homes, recruit, residential
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2011 Housebuilding News Summary
As the year draws to an end, at Careers In Housebuilding, we’ve decided to do a mini- year in review feature that looks at all the big stories of the last year, and what a year it’s been! The year started with uncertainty, most news sources were predicting one of following, decline, stability or (mild) growth. The reality is we’ve had a bit of all three.
Consumer demand has remained high in 2011, and there has not been the collapse that some feared, but the old ghost that has plagued the industry since 2007 has been the difficulty in obtaining finance. Affordable mortgage deals remain a huge problem, particularly for first time buyers, but there has been some movement here particularly from government, with the 95% mortgage deals that were announced in November of this year.
In terms of planning, the planning reform bills have been what can only described as rollercoaster with definite plans put in place for the middle of the year which did then not materialise until a later date. There remains great uncertainty, with the number of planning approvals down to 33,000 in 2011 compared to double that in 2006. Widespread anxiety about this will hopefully clear in the New Year as the legislation reaches maturity and comes into place. There has also been a great deal of politicking, with Communities Secretary Eric Pickles, intervening in a number of high profile cases, particularly in the Barton Farm development in the South West.
Speculation for 2011 was that one of the major housebuilders could go to the wall. This has not happened, to the great relief of all involved in the industry, and in fact several of the large housebuilders have in fact posted large gains in profits. A prominent example being Galliford Try which has posted an 80% increase in profit in September.
So it can be hoped that the housebuilding industry is still moving forward, although at a gradual pace, the worst seems to have passed but the general feeling is that we are not about to return to the golden days of before 2007 any time soon. Perhaps it would be prudent for us at this time to make some predictions for 2012, but, it seems that quite literally- anything could happen. We’ll hope for the best. Until next time, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all of us at Careers In Housebuilding. We’ll see you all back here in January, with a belly full of mince pies.
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Tagged building, careers, construction, housebuilding, housing, jobs, new homes, recruit, recruitment, residential
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Careers In Housebuilding reports significant increase in site traffic
Have no fear, the weekly news will return as usual on Friday, but here at Careers In Housebuilding we felt that it was worth us putting out this special article to highlight a few things that have been going on recently.
As you may know, if you’re a regular follower of our blogs and updates, a record number of people visited www.careersinhousebuilding.co.uk Last week, Bellway, Miller and Linden joined Careersinhousebuilding veterans Taylor Wimpey and Persimmon as regular advertisers on the site. Including, McCarthy & Stone and Wainhomes, there are now seven major builders using our site. We ardently believe that no other jobs board can offer such a selection.
We’re really proud to offer such a diverse number of companies and roles, and we stick by our founding principal- no agency jobs- not now, not ever. In our ongoing survey (http://blog.careersinhousebuilding.co.uk/surveys/the-careers-in-housebuilding-recruitment-survey/), 85% of you said you preferred applying directly for a job when we published the interim results recently. We listened, and this is why we are the way we are.
The survey told us other things too. More and more of you are using social media to keep up to date with new opportunities in the job market. We can see this in our monthly traffic also, for the first time, we received more visitors from websites like LinkedIn and Facebook, than we did from our association with www.house-builder.co.uk, which historically has been the most popular route to our site after Google.
People want to engage with what’s going on in Housebuilding – this is why we have the blog http://blog.careersinhousebuilding.co.uk/, which features weekly news, editorial comment on the big issues affecting the industry and research into factors affecting the job market. More of you are reading it than ever. We want to be as passionate about your industry, as you are finding a position in it.
See you at the weekly news on Friday! Look forward to a special news bulletin in the near future, summing up the highs and lows (there have been many!) in Housebuilding in the last year.
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Housebuilding Weekly News 9th December 2011
Three weeks is a short time in the housebuilding industry. Just three weeks ago the government announced it’s 95% mortgage scheme. This week Linden Homes claimed the first 95% Mortgage in the UK, under the “Step Up” branding. It’s of no doubt that other housebuilders will be clamouring to get their own products to market as soon as possible. We can expect to see a lot more of this in the next couple of weeks and months as the situation stabilises.
Various different firms involved in construction and housebuilding in the UK have experienced mixed trading and results this week. Star performer Bellway has stated that it’s order book had grown to £458m this year, an increase of £18m on last year, despite the troubled economic times. This glaringly compares with quantity surveying firm Cyrill Sweett, who have reported a £200,000 loss before tax, with most regions showing stunted growth or a decline in revenue. The singular exception being the Asia Pacific region.
Another story that may be of interest to housebuilders is the news that the government intends to reform the local government structures of eight core British cities. The proposed reforms would see local councils being granted large prevailing powers over a number of areas, but crucially it would include much greater control over planning.
In much more localised news Careers In Housebuilding has seen a huge expansion in the number of jobs available in the last week, with jobs from Linden, Persimmon, Bellway and Miller Homes being posted, and over 20 new individual job roles. The flurry of activity has caught us all by surprise. Speculation continues as to whether this is linked to the 95% mortgages announced recently. Regardless, we are all here to meet the challenge, and recommend that you check out the variety of positions that are available, in particular the nineteen new homes sales vacancies.
David Ryan is a specialist in housebuilding recruitment and is current conducting research into the trends affecting the market. You can contribute to his housebuilding research here.
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