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Morning Briefing: builders pay out multibillion-pound dividends
Builders have paid out huge dividends, sparking criticism of the Help to Buy scheme, and all the rest of the morning’s housing news
In the news
Builders have paid out dividends of £2.3bn to shareholders in the last financial year, according to data from analysts AJ Bell reported in The Guardian. This compares with a £57.7m payout in 2012, the year before the Help to Buy scheme was introduced.
The paper isn’t shy about drawing a link between the two, and quotes a spokesperson from charity Shelter saying: “Disjointed schemes such as Help to Buy have only made things worse by inflating house prices and giving big developers a leg-up, while doing almost nothing to for those most in need of a genuinely affordable home.”
On Sunday, The Observer looked at plans to build “rabbit hutch” homes in a former commercial building in an industrial estate in Balham, south London – some smaller than a Premier Inn hotel room.
A BBC News investigation looks at a trend in Manchester that will be familiar to fans of the London housing market: new flats being snapped up by foreign investors before local buyers are able to get a look in.
The investigation looked at a new development in the city’s fashionable Northern Quarter and found that 48 homes had an owner registered in Hong Kong, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Singapore; 24 were owned by companies registered in the British Virgin islands; 20 were owned by British buy-to-let landlords or companies and only nine were owned by occupiers.
In local news, the Andover Advertiser reports on record numbers of households at risk of homelessness seeking help from the council and the Bristol Post carries a story about plans to extend council houses with extra loft space, extensions or garage conversions to help move some larger families off the city’s waiting list.
Also in Bristol, the council estimates that as many as two-thirds of shared homes do not have the required ‘houses in multiple occupation licence’, reports the BBC.
For those after news from further afield, the FT reports on similarities between the urgent debate over the housing crisis in Luxembourg to the UK.
On social media
It’s National Careers Week this week, and you can follow CIH Futures on Twitter for lots of chat about careers in housing:
And I’m off....at the station ready to head to the Houses of Parliament for today’s launch of #ncw2019 for @CIHFutures @CIHhousing This will be the start of a week of some great discussions, blogs about all things careers #ukhousing
— CIH Futures (@CIHFutures)And I’m off....at the station ready to head to the Houses of Parliament for today’s launch of #ncw2019 for @CIHFutures @CIHhousing This will be the start of a week of some great discussions, blogs about all things careers #ukhousing
— CIH Futures (@CIHFutures) March 4, 2019
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