Burnham's council house bonanza 'will lead to fall in housebuilding'
Andy Burnham's vow to kick-off the largest council house-building programme since the war could lead to an overall fall in the number of houses being built in Britain, an expert warned today.
The prospective prime minister yesterday referenced his 1970s childhood as he outlined a vision for his premiership that included a massive focus on affordable homes funded by the state.
He said his government - if he becomes Labour leader - would use vacant public land to reduce costs and focus on higher density development in existing towns, to both reinvigorate high streets and protect green spaces from development.
But Lucian Cook, head of residential research for the estate agent Savills, warned it would take investment cash away from private developments at a time when housebuilders face 'real viability challenges'.
They are being hit by wage and material cost inflation, he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme, at a time when the sales market is also taking a pounding.
'You would probably see a fall in overall levels of housebuilding and indeed the government has set itself a very ambitious housebuilding target of 1.5m homes over the course of this parliament. I don't think anyone really thought that was realistic, indeed our outlook is that it might be as low as 840,000,' he added.
'Clearly it is a good thing that you get more affordable housing but the reality is you need more housing across all tenures if you are really going to address some of the underlying affordability issues in the housing market.'
New figures released yesterday showed the number of home mortgage approvals made to buyers dropped to a two-and-a-half-year low in May.
The prospective prime minister yesterday referenced his 1970s childhood as he outlined a vision for his premiership that included a massive focus on affordable homes funded by the state
He said his government - if he becomes Labour leader - would use vacant public land to reduce costs and focus on higher density development in existing towns, to both reinvigorate high streets and protect green spaces from development.
While stopping short of calling for full nationalisation, Mr Burnham said his future government would 'ensure that all parts of the UK are able to take greater public control of essential services'.
These included water, housing, energy and transport, and would come with a decade-long plan to bring down the costs of these essentials.
On housing, he said No10 North would 'oversee the biggest council house building programme since the post-war'.
In a Manchester speech he said: 'Let me just take you back to the 1970s… when we were growing up here amongst the friends we had at school, there were two things that were the foundations of working class aspiration: a council home, a secure home that was the foundation for everything, and then good technical education.
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'Those things have been taken away in the decades since, so no wonder so many young people struggle to make it work… don't blame them, blame ourselves.'
Some 56,200 mortgage approvals for house purchase were recorded in May, down from 66,000 in April and below the average of 63,300 over the past six months, according to the Bank of England's latest money and credit report.
It marked the lowest number of approvals since December 2023.
Approvals for remortgaging, which only capture remortgaging with a different lender, also decreased to 33,300 in May from 51,200 in April.
The drop in approvals for house sales, which are looked to as an indicator of future borrowing, came against a backdrop of rising mortgage rates following the outbreak of the US-Israel war with Iran at the end of February.
Many mortgage deals were pulled and average fixed rates ticked higher amid financial uncertainty prompted by the conflict in the Middle East.
Three in five homes listed for sale since January are yet to sell, according to property listing site Zoopla.
Buyers have vanished amid higher mortgage rates and political turmoil, with homes sitting on the market and enquiries about properties down 15 per cent compared to last year, it said.
The West Midlands has seen the steepest collapse in buyer demand, with enquiries dropping by 30 per cent compared to last year, closely followed by the North East, down 29 per cent.
"What I will never do is give up" – Kimmich rules out international retirement after Germany's World Cup exit
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Germany captain Joshua Kimmich is not considering retiring from international football after Monday's heartbreaking World Cup exit to Paraguay.
"I'll always have the determination to make another attempt. What I will never do is give up," Kimmich told MagentaTV after the match.
AdvertisementAdvertisementThe 31-year-old, who was also part of the squads that crashed out in the group stage at the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, converted his penalty in the shootout. However, it wasn't enough to prevent another disappointing tournament exit.
"I grew up in Germany watching the national team on television, and it always seemed to be the semifinals or the final. Of course, you want to give today's children, the people, and this generation that same experience. The fact is, we weren't able to give the people back home that," Kimmich said.
According to Kimmich, everyone in the team must take full responsibility for the latest failure.
“It's a real shame, especially at a time when it would do us so much good to have something in Germany we can be proud of. Unfortunately, the national team isn't that right now, and we all share responsibility for it,” he said.
"We have to take responsibility – no one can distance themselves from it. We have to own it, because we, the players who were on the pitch, are the ones who messed it up."
Taylor Swift won over Kelce's skeptical friend in backstage encounter
Taylor Swift won over another new fan in Travis Kelce's friend Taylor Lewan, days before the American power couple are expected to get married at New York's Madison Square Garden.
Swift joined Kelce last week for his annual 'Tight End University' - an event he helps plan for practice and networking with players who play in the position where the Kansas City Chiefs star made his name.
Swift has sprinkled some stardust over the last two events with a brief performance at the concert they host each year and this time, ex-NFL man turned podcast host Lewan got to witness Swift preparing to perform backstage.
Speaking on his popular Bussin' With The Boys podcast, Lewan explained: 'I'll just tell you this, dude - I was kind of into her music when I was younger. I haven't been super into it since then. It is just not my genre.
'The girl is incredible. What a performer. We are sitting backstage for a moment and she's about to go out. She's got a cluster, she's got a gaggle of individuals with her. But she's in the back before she walks out and you can see her just getting in the zone.
'I remember just looking at her being like "it is so cool that somebody who is as successful as she is, as famous as she is, she just handles her business the correct way at all times".
Taylor Swift stunned fans with a surprise performance at Travis Kelce's Tight End University
Swift joined Travis Kelce (left) alongside Claire Kittle, George Kittle, Greg Olsen and Talbot Olsen (L-R) at the opening event of Tight End University on Monday
Bussin' With The Boys host Taylor Lewan was impressed by Swift's performance last week
'And for her to sit back, get in the zone and go out and put on a performance, whether it was three minutes or five minutes, it was a very short amount of time, but the pop from the crowd... everybody in that moment felt like she was singing individually to them. And I thought that was just awesome.'
Swift joined Lainey Wilson on the stage to perform her hit 'Love Story' and dedicated it to Kelce's friend and rival tight end George Kittle, who plays for San Francisco 49ers.
'She probably misses ball!' Lewan joked about the lengthy NFL offseason. 'She misses ball a little bit, dude! But she was awesome. It was just really cool to watch people who are outliers in their craft perform.
'And I thought she is clearly that, the biggest superstar in the world. It is just awesome to see all that going down, all while our boy Trav is just bobbing around, stoked to kind of like be there.'
Swift and Kelce are expected to tie the knot this weekend in New York at the city's most iconic venue.
There were people in the industry who wondered if their plans to marry at MSG were a high-profile decoy but Daily Mail earlier this week shared pictures of equipment getting loaded into the venue, seemingly in preparation for the big day.
It remains to be seen if Lewan is going. He has known Kelce for around 10 years but the guestlist has been kept quiet and those attending have been sworn to secrecy.
And if, as Lewan suggested, Swift is missing football then she doesn't have too much longer to wait.
Kelce's Chiefs team start the season with a Monday Night Football showdown against AFC West rivals Denver Broncos on September 14 at Arrowhead Stadium.
