31st
May 2015
According to a latest survey stating the numbers of UK households have increased, there are less people living in the average house.
It goes without saying that household numbers are on a steep rise and estimates are being bandied around that in the next fifteen years, there will be an increase of just under 4 million extra households. 2015 has approximately 27.5 million households and the projected figure for 2030 is for 31.2 million.
However the research claims that the average household is down from 2.96 (1970) to 2.3 people in a home. It also states there is a distinct possibility that by 2030 the number of people, in a household, will shrink down to 2.25
A major Insurance Company carried out the research with the Centre for Economics and Business. The Financial Times highlighted the danger of the lack of the housing supply to cope with the projections.
In its article the Financial Times said that Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, has grave concerns about the lack of new builds.
The Lyons Housing Review states that the UK needs 243,000 new builds every year, which is nowhere near being reached at present levels. The UK Industry believes that even building 180,000 new homes a year just cannot be achieved, reported in a house building report from a property agent. Vast skills shortages and capacity levels of house builders were decimated by the recession.
With the Conservatives back in power, the lenders are confident that there should a number of government incentives totalling up to £30 billion for buy-to-let. There are discussions underway to design and build new garden cities outside the Capital to boost the economy with new homes and jobs. These schemes will also help regeneration within the new locations.
With smaller households on the increase it will ‘mirror’ the demand for more one and two bed roomed properties, unfortunately only half of the new builds will be smaller houses which will not meet demand.
Mark Holweger, a managing director at the Insurance Company, said:
“The classic ‘two-point-four-children’ family unit has become ‘2.4 people’ in today’s Britain. We are seeing smaller households inhabiting ever-smaller properties — which in turn is creating higher numbers of overall households.”
The proportion of people renting has risen over the last 20 years, while those owning their own homes has been falling. The number of renting households has doubled over 20 years to reach 20 per cent of all households now. This proportion is expected to rise to at least 30 per cent by 2030.
With the advent of higher divorce rates it inevitably means that family numbers are being split into either smaller units, or people living on their own. The other major factor for the requirement for smaller residential properties is the size of the older population, for when partners die and are left living alone.
Obviously this situation needs to be resolved quickly and hopefully this will one day be reflected in Britain’s housing stock. Increasingly when families have split up, it is in many cases renting a home is the favoured option, because of costs of paying for two owned properties.
The escalating house prices is seeing more and more landlords converting larger Victorian bed roomed houses into two and more homes for people to rent.
Richard Merrick of PIMS, said : “The bedroom tax has highlighted the urgent need for people to downsize, however there is not enough homes to re-house people so it is frightening to think of the future, the government will have to quickly plan accordingly.”
News Archive »