Wembley developer calls for āvibrant rental sectorā
The Conservativesā focus on home ownership is unlikely to solve the UKās housing crisis, according to Angus Dodd, chief executive of housing developer Quintain.
Speaking at yesterdayās FT Future of Construction summit in London, Dodd said the UK needed a āvibrant rental sectorā to cater for demand from those for whom buying a home is an unaffordable goal.
Noting the stated aim of the Toryās manifesto ā published yesterday ā of having more people own their own homes, despite Theresa Mayās government warming to the rental sector in recent months, Dodd said home ownership was simply not possible for everyone. āThere is a deep demand for rented accommodation. Most people [currently] canāt afford to buy.ā
Dodd, whose company is currently developing the UKās largest build-to-rent housing development around Wembley stadium, said compared with the US and Germany, where rented accommodation was around 50% of housing stock, in the UK was lagging far behind.
āThe rental sector is something we can be proud of. At Wembley weāre building six Ā£100m projects and weāll have 3,000 homes by the end of 2017. Weāre seeing occupation beyond the millennial generation. Average occupancy age is 28, but that is spread across 19 to 63, while the average annual salary is Ā£40,000.ā
The Conservative manifesto, published yesterday, acknowledged that housing ā whether to own or to rent ā had become āincreasingly unaffordableā for many people. In a section devoted to housing, entitled āHomes For Allā, the manifesto said: āIf we do not put this right, we will be unable to extend the promise of a decent home, let alone ownership, to the millions who deserve it.ā
Dodd added that he had been against Brexit. āI think it was a bad thing to do and we should have stayed in. Yes, London will thrive and grow in all sorts of ways; itās not just about what the City does, itās about bars and parks, theatres and restaurants and football clubs. And the investment market hasnāt collapsed. But Brexit certainly hasnāt helped matters ā and a collapse could still come.
Quintain would keep building, Dodd said, ābut the housing crisis wonāt go away because weāve left the European Union. We want our EU workers to be able to stay. It is what it is, weāll get through it, and we wonāt change our strategy at Wembley because of Brexit. But we shouldnāt have done it.ā
Also speaking at the FT summit, Rob Perrins, chief executive at Berkeley Group, took a swipe at the recently introduced apprenticeship levy. āOur industry wonāt benefit from it, others will. Itās an additional tax. It lacks clarity and wonāt add one more apprentice.ā
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