黑洞社区

The Conservatives鈥� focus on home ownership is unlikely to solve the UK鈥檚 housing crisis, according to Angus Dodd, chief executive of housing developer Quintain.

Speaking at yesterday鈥檚 FT Future of Construction summit in London, Dodd said the UK needed a 鈥渧ibrant rental sector鈥� to cater for demand from those for whom buying a home is an unaffordable goal.

Noting the stated aim of the Tory鈥檚 manifesto 鈥� published yesterday 鈥� of having more people own their own homes, despite Theresa May鈥檚 government warming to the rental sector in recent months, Dodd said home ownership was simply not possible for everyone. 鈥淭here is a deep demand for rented accommodation. Most people [currently] can鈥檛 afford to buy.鈥�

Dodd, whose company is currently developing the UK鈥檚 largest build-to-rent housing development around Wembley stadium, said compared with the US and Germany, where rented accommodation was around 50% of housing stock, in the UK was lagging far behind.

鈥淭he rental sector is something we can be proud of. At Wembley we鈥檙e building six 拢100m projects and we鈥檒l have 3,000 homes by the end of 2017. We鈥檙e seeing occupation beyond the millennial generation. Average occupancy age is 28, but that is spread across 19 to 63, while the average annual salary is 拢40,000.鈥�

The Conservative manifesto, published yesterday, acknowledged that housing 鈥� whether to own or to rent 鈥� had become 鈥渋ncreasingly unaffordable鈥� for many people. In a section devoted to housing, entitled 鈥楬omes For All鈥�, the manifesto said: 鈥淚f we do not put this right, we will be unable to extend the promise of a decent home, let alone ownership, to the millions who deserve it.鈥�

Dodd added that he had been against Brexit. 鈥淚 think it was a bad thing to do and we should have stayed in. Yes, London will thrive and grow in all sorts of ways; it鈥檚 not just about what the City does, it鈥檚 about bars and parks, theatres and restaurants and football clubs. And the investment market hasn鈥檛 collapsed. But Brexit certainly hasn鈥檛 helped matters 鈥� and a collapse could still come.

Quintain would keep building, Dodd said, 鈥渂ut the housing crisis won鈥檛 go away because we鈥檝e left the European Union. We want our EU workers to be able to stay. It is what it is, we鈥檒l get through it, and we won鈥檛 change our strategy at Wembley because of Brexit. But we shouldn鈥檛 have done it.鈥�

Also speaking at the FT summit, Rob Perrins, chief executive at Berkeley Group, took a swipe at the recently introduced apprenticeship levy. 鈥淥ur industry won鈥檛 benefit from it, others will. It鈥檚 an additional tax. It lacks clarity and won鈥檛 add one more apprentice.鈥�