The number of homes that the government estimates the North East of England will need to build could jump by 79% following planning changes.
Analysis by West One Loans – which compared Local Housing Need (LHN) figures in each region pre- and post-National Planning Policy Framework changes – found that, under previous standards, the North East only required 6,123 homes per year, but under the new guidelines, this will sit at 10,976 homes.
LHN is defined as an “unconstrained assessment of the minimum number of homes needed in an area”, and following the National Planning Policy Framework, LHN requirements are set to rise by 21.4%.
The government said in its election-winning manifesto that it aims to build one-and-a-half million homes over the parliamentary period, equal to around 370,000 homes per year.
The North East was followed by the North West, where LHN requirements will jump by around 61.3% to 34,678, and then the South East, which will increase by 41.8% to 39,992 homes.
At the other end of the spectrum, London’s LHN will contract by 11% to 87,992, while the West Midlands will rise by 21% to 29,940 and the East Midlands will go up by 23.9% to 25,674 homes.
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The report stated that these targets were highly ambitious, considering that, last year, provisional figures showed that net additional dwellings came to 221,071.
Guy Murray, West One Loans’ co-head of short-term finance, said: “Our new Labour government has been quick out of the blocks with respect to new housing delivery, and their introduction of grey belt land classification is certainly one of the more positive steps we’ve seen in recent times.
“However, whilst admirable, their target of 370,000 new homes per year seems ambitious at best, particularly when you consider the failure of the previous government to come anywhere close to its target of 300,000 new homes per year.”
He continued: “The key to boosting housing delivery is developer incentivisation, and this can take many forms, from tax breaks, grants, credits or rebates, or via improvements to help streamline the process, such as easing zoning regulations.
“Of course, the biggest incentive is a buoyant market, and we’re yet to see the current government make any real statement with respect to stimulating buyer demand levels. In fact, they’ve done quite the opposite by failing to extend current stamp duty relief thresholds beyond the end of March.”
