With government guidelines encouraging developers to build flats rather than houses, 59 per cent of new properties built in 2006 were flats. However, it has been claimed that this has further exacerbated the plight of families looking for property.
Richard Donnell, director of Hometrack, explained: “In stark terms there is not a shortage of family homes with about 70 per cent of property having three bedrooms or more, generally occupied by families or the retired. However because only 30 per cent of property has two or three bedrooms the price discount for those wishing to trade down is very narrow.”
The report suggested that in the last decade 6 per cent of housing stock changed hands, whereas in the late 1980s the figure was 10 per cent.
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Yvette Cooper, Minister for Housing and Planning, announced last year that planning rules would support more family housing. However, Rob Clifford, chief executive of Mortgageforce, did not believe permission to build more family homes would address the need for families as well as it had for FTBs.
“It is easier to create housing stock for FTBs – large blocks of flats can be built on one site, or old buildings can be converted into flats. However, more room is needed to build family homes. It is a question of supply and demand. As we see more availability for FTB properties, the knock on effect is there is less for those as they want to progress up the housing ladder.”
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