Property Market Comment with Richard Kemp of Bennett Jones

ONE thing we know for sure currently is there is a shortage of properties available on the market. This may in part be due to Brexit but is mostly due to the time of year so don’t give up on your search yet as the spring market is approaching and is usually the best time to sell.

Markets and seasonal variations aside, with the ever-increasing population of the UK, we are still failing to meet demand with supply. The recent steady increase in house prices has reflected this as there is an undeniable shortage which must be addressed. Housing can’t be just built anywhere – there are detailed planning guidance and policies in place to guide and direct the type of housing we build and where we build it. This is to protect our villages, towns, and cities, the infrastructure and transport in these areas and the environment. That last point leads me to discuss the use of Green and Brownfield sites. A Greenfield site is an undeveloped piece of land, usually agricultural. A Brownfield site is a previously developed piece of land which may or may not have a building already on it, but would still have been affected by construction works such as previous foundations remaining for instance.

The focus on using Brownfield sites will help reduce unused and wasted land building up and help retain our countryside. Government cuts made in 2016 have made the use of these sites increasingly difficult as the development of Brownfield sites is more costly and the financial aid is being removed.

The housing crisis could be tackled or remedied with the usage of these sites which was measured in 2016 as 300,000 hectares (that’s 300,000 international rugby pitches!).

The recent Housing White Paper was asked to include more Brownfield-friendly policies by house builders, but little came through in the way of solutions. It is argued that the use of most of these sites is unfeasible due to their location and lack of transport links. A tool which has announced in the White Paper is the register of Brownfield sites which is publicly available, compiled by local Councils which must be kept up-to-date. This may allow developers to look for and target the areas of potential development that will have less of an impact on the area than the use of Greenfield sites. Pressure is building up for the use of Greenfield and Green belt sites. The latter being designed to limit the growth of built up areas by containing towns and cities by circling them in areas designated for agriculture and woodlands. In the past, Green belts have been highly protected but with increasing pressure building, even these are now being contested with calls to reform and review them.

One of the biggest arguments that came from the Housing White Paper was that the Government was not tackling the real issue but instead was ‘treating the symptoms and not the cause’.

Housing needs to be built – the question is where to put them? Land comes in two forms, Brownfield and Greenfield. Brownfield sites need to be used up to the point of exhaustion and only then should our Greenfield sites be considered.

But for the time being at the Bennett Jones Partnership, we are preparing for our busiest time of the year and we would be delighted for you to join us in it! Whether it be to rent, let, buy, sell, or even just a discussion about market conditions and information, call our office and we would be glad to assist.