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The chair of Homes England has dismissed the impact Brexit will have on attracting overseas investment into the UK housing market, saying that the demand for new homes will ensure the sector remains attractive regardless of the UK’s exit from the European Union.
Sir Edward Lister, chair of Homes England, said that the international investors could see the “underlying demand” for new homes in the country, and that this would remain regardless of what happens with Brexit.
Speaking at international property festival MIPIM, Sir Edward said that despite the country now building 240,000 new homes a year there were still 160,000 new households being created every year, leading to a "massive shortfall".
He said: “The short answer is there is a massive demand for housing and people need to live somewhere. So ignore Brexit – the demand is there.”
Sir Edward was speaking on a panel alongside Nick Walkley, chief executive of Homes England, discussing what the state of overseas investment would be following the UK’s exit from the EU.
It came on the day that the Department for International Trade unveiled its housing investment opportunities portfolio. The 11 schemes, which range from garden towns to urban regeneration projects, are estimated to be worth around £6bn and could unlock more than 67,000 homes.
Commenting on investment in cities and towns outside of London, Mr Walkley said that the country needed to stop presenting international investment in these regional areas as pioneering.
He said: “The UK and its regions have a long tradition of extensive partnerships with overseas investors, whether you go to Manchester and the Far East Consortium, or in Bristol where they have extensive and long-term relationships through [the] university and commercial sector[s].”
He said that the country now needs to be more “on the front foot” about growing the confidence and competence of these regions to boost investment.
Last week, a number of regions outside London unveiled investment opportunity portfolios for housing and commercial projects worth billions of pounds. On Wednesday, Andy Street, West Midlands mayor, unveiled a £10bn pipeline of development opportunities across the region.
Thursday saw the Welsh Government release its investment opportunities portfolio, which includes schemes with an estimated worth of nearly £1.5bn.
Mr Walkley said investment in housing was becoming more attractive because of the increasing power of devolved regions and the government’s commitment to support new housing schemes.
He said: “You can see the recently established mayoral authorities in the UK are gradually increasing their influence, which creates opportunities in the longer term for investment in areas where there is housing demand.
“The important thing for me in my position [as chief executive of Homes England] is that the UK government has begun from a position of saying, ‘There is a problem that needs to be resolved; the country doesn’t build enough homes, and how do we create a situation where investors are prepared to support more housebuilding?’ That has to be good news.”