Morning Briefing: RICS figures show mixed housing market

A write up of the findings from the Press Association is featured in several national news outlets,

with a particular focus on specific areas in many regional papers.

Simon Rubinsohn, chief economist at RICS, said: “It is clearly very difficult to talk about the housing market at the moment without being acutely aware of the marked differences in trends across the UK.”

Elsewhere, The Guardian reports that it has seen cabinet papers revealing one in six new Universal Credit claimants are not being paid on time.

The paper reports Esther McVey, work and pensions secretary, gave a presentation revealing 84% of claimants are paid on time – meaning 16% are not.

Local paper, Boston Standard, also reports on Universal Credit as it becomes the latest area to see the reform rolled out.

Elsewhere the Financial Times covers a report by the Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee focusing on land value taxation. The report, covered here by Inside Housing, suggests ways of taxing the increases in land value developers gain when their land is given planning permission. Calls for rises in property values to benefit the state is the Financial Times’ somewhat business friendly headline.

An interesting report in the Brighton and Hove Independent reveals that the council is taking on small Section 106 affordable housing deals which local housing associations don’t want as they are too small.

And in other news, The Big Issue runs a comment piece about last week’s report into social housing and mental health, Birmingham Live carries a report of a large housing scheme planned in the city and Bristol Council announces the launch of its new housing company.

On social media

The chair of the G15 is happy to see land value capture in the news:

Very encouraging to see debate on #LandValueCapture gain traction. MHCLG Select Committee calling for local authorities to be able to use value uplift from granting #PlanningPermissions to fund affordable housing and infrastructure. #ukhousing #ukplanning t.co/PNnXYKFXjc

— Paul Hackett (@PaulHackett10)

Very encouraging to see debate on #LandValueCapture gain traction. MHCLG Select Committee calling for local authorities to be able to use value uplift from granting #PlanningPermissions to fund affordable housing and infrastructure. #ukhousing #ukplanning https://t.co/PNnXYKFXjc

— Paul Hackett (@PaulHackett10) September 13, 2018

And a housing association celebrates its long-standing staff:

We’re taking a trip down memory lane this afternoon and celebrating our long servicing staff members. We’re having an afternoon tea milestone event to say thank you 🍰😊 #ukhousing #Kent *SB pic.twitter.com/RohTn5d19f

— mhs homes (@mhshomes)

We're taking a trip down memory lane this afternoon and celebrating our long servicing staff members. We're having an afternoon tea milestone event to say thank you \uD83C\uDF70\uD83D\uDE0A #ukhousing #Kent *SB pic.twitter.com/RohTn5d19f

— mhs homes (@mhshomes) September 12, 2018

What’s on

• The RESI Convention conference in Newport, Wales continues today with housing minister Kit Malthouse due to address delegates this afternoon
• In London, the Grenfell Tower Inquiry continues to hear evidence from firefighters