Researchers examined the effectiveness of temporary measures that were put in place In January 2009 to provide additional help to owner-occupiers who were eligible to claim out-of-work benefit, to avoid house repossession during the economic downturn. They concluded that the arrangements had been successful – providing vital support for owner-occupiers facing the economic shock of a suddenly reduced income.
Source: Moira Munro, Susan Smith and Janet Ford, An Evaluation of the January 2009 Arrangements for Support for Mortgage Interest, Research Report 711, Department for Work and Pensions
Date: 2010-Nov
A report highlighted the 'affordability gap' faced by first-time house-buyers. Those aged between 22 and 29 would have to save 45 per cent of their take-home pay every month for 5 years before they could afford a deposit.
Source: Broken Ladder: A report into the affordability gap faced by first time buyers, Home Builders Federation
Links: Report | HBF press release
Date: 2010-Oct
A report said that shared-ownership and shared-equity schemes could reduce the risks associated with home-ownership and allow more households to become owner-occupiers in a sustainable manner. Key areas for reform included: a simplified, standardized product; re-enabling shared equity on existing homes; more transparent regulation and subsidy; and the development of a better resale market for shared-ownership and shared-equity products.
Source: Christine Whitehead, Shared Ownership and Shared Equity: Reducing the risks of home-ownership?, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Date: 2010-Sep
A report said that shared-ownership schemes were helping people on low incomes to buy homes, and should continue to receive government backing.
Source: Simon Graham, Shared Ownership: Facts & Figures, Promoting Shared Ownership Group
Links: Report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2010-Sep
A working group report examined the role of property-condition information in the home buying and selling process. Over 90 per cent of people buying a house wanted information about its condition: but fewer than 1 in 6 trusted information provided by the seller.
Source: Condition Information in the Home Buying and Selling Process: Final report from the working group, Department for Communities and Local Government | The Role of Condition Information in the Home Buying and Selling Process: Key findings from research conducted by Ipsos MORI and DTZ, Department for Communities and Local Government
Links: Report (1) | Report (2) | DCLG press release
Date: 2010-Sep
A report examined the role that housing wealth played in the overall distribution of wealth. It considered the potential role that housing wealth might play in improving the welfare of retired households, and the effect of inheritance and lifetime gifts on the inter-generational distribution of wealth.
Source: Lindsey Appleyard and Karen Rowlingson, Home-Ownership and the Distribution of Personal Wealth: A review of the evidence, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Date: 2010-Sep
Researchers brought together evidence from qualitative interviews with borrowers who had either given voluntary possession or had sold their home due to financial difficulties, in order to inform understanding of the drivers, experiences, and outcomes for these households.
Source: Janet Ford, Joanne Bretherton, Anwen Jones and David Rhodes, Giving Up Homeownership: A qualitative study of voluntary possession and selling because of financial difficulties, Department for Communities and Local Government
Links: Report | Summary | DCLG press release
Date: 2010-Aug
A report said that publicly funded low-cost home ownership schemes were failing to reach hundreds of thousands of low-income households.
Source: Nicola Hughes with Daniel Lindsay, The Forgotten Households: Is intermediate housing meeting affordable housing needs?, Shelter
Links: Report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2010-Jul
An article examined the effect of union dissolution on the occurrence of house moves, changes of dwelling type, and the probability of moving out of owner-occupation. Those who divorced experienced a larger drop in housing quality than did those who split up from cohabitation. Starting a new relationship led to more upward moves in the housing career compared with remaining divorced or split-up.
Source: Peteke Feijten and Maarten van Ham, 'The impact of splitting up and divorce on housing careers in the UK', Housing Studies, Volume 25 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Jul
An interim report evaluated measures introduced by the previous Labour government designed to prevent mortgage repossessions and help home owners remain in their homes. Support for the Homeowners Mortgage Support (HMS) scheme remained 'muted' among lenders and advisors: but most partners considered the HMS, alongside other government measures, to have significantly influenced the extent of lenders' own forbearance policies.
Source: Steve Wilcox et al., Evaluation of the Mortgage Rescue Scheme and Homeowners Mortgage Support: Interim report, Department for Communities and Local Government
Date: 2010-Jul
A report examined how the flows of households into home ownership had been changing, how they might change in the future, and how households accessed the wealth that had been built up in their homes. There was a 'major window of opportunity' for governments to draw on the store of housing wealth to replace public expenditure in certain areas.
Source: Peter Williams, Home Equity: Accumulation and decumulation through the life cycle, Resolution Foundation
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Jul
The Mortgage Repossessions (Protection of Tenants etc) Act 2010 (based on a private member's Bill) received Royal assent. The Act was designed to give tenants greater protection when their landlords faced repossession action. Tenants would have more opportunity to request a delay in repossession action so that they had time to find appropriate alternative accommodation.
Source: Mortgage Repossessions (Protection of Tenants etc) Act 2010, TSO
Links: Text of Act | Explanatory notes | DCLG press release | Crisis press release | Shelter press release | Citizens Advice press release | Inside Housing report
Date: 2010-Apr
A paper defended shared home-ownership in the face of competition from shared-equity schemes. It said that private housebuilders that had participated in shared-equity schemes would pull out of them and revert to selling homes at full market value once the housing market recovered. In the long term shared equity and shared ownership would be best served by government, housing associations, and lenders working together.
Source: Simon Graham, The Role of Shared Home Ownership in the Future Housing Market, National Housing Federation (with other organizations)
Links: Paper | MHO press release | Inside Housing report
Date: 2010-Apr
A paper examined whether and why house prices matter for well-being. A small positive correlation existed between house prices and well-being for both home-owners and renters. This correlation could not be explained by economic variables such as local unemployment, earnings, or earnings expectations – hinting at a purely psychological phenomenon.
Source: Anita Ratcliffe, Housing Wealth or Economic Climate: Why do house prices matter for well-being?, Working Paper 234, Centre for Market and Public Organisation/University of Bristol
Links: Working paper
Date: 2010-Apr
A report said that the Scottish Government should rethink its policy of expanding owner-occupation. It questioned whether the existing levels of owner occupation in Scotland were sustainable.
Source: Newhaven Research, Castles in the Air: Housing policy and the UK love affair with owner occupation, Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland
Links: Report | CIH press release | Inside Housing report
Date: 2010-Mar
A report (by an official advisory body) examined the viability and affordability of new housing. It developed a model to understand how the price of a house was influenced by the mix of housing and the density of housing in the surrounding area: this was used to estimate the viability of a range of housing projects with different mixes and densities in selected local authority case study areas. The study also examined how the mix and density of the homes built on a site affected how affordable they were.
Source: Glen Bramley et al., The Implications of Housing Type/Size Mix and Density for the Affordability and Viability of New Housing Supply, National Housing and Planning Advice Unit
Date: 2010-Mar
The government announced (in the 2010 Budget) that it would raise the threshold at which stamp duty became payable on house purchases from £125,000 to £250,000, for a period of two years. To pay for this relief, it would raise (permanently) the stamp duty on house purchases worth more than £1 million from 4 to 5 per cent.
Source: Budget 2010: Securing the Recovery, HC 451, HM Treasury/TSO
Links: Report | Hansard | HMT press release | BSA press release | CML press release | NAEA press release | NHF press release | Inside Housing report | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Mar
A report examined some of the key issues in assessing affordability of house prices and private rents at a local level. It provided a new set of estimates of local household incomes, derived from national datasets, and a national assessment of housing market affordability for every local authority area in England.
Source: Steve Wilcox and Glen Bramley, Evaluating Requirements for Market and Affordable Housing, National Housing and Planning Advice Unit
Links: Report | Summary | Shelter press release
Date: 2010-Feb
A report by a committee of the National Assembly for Wales said that the Welsh Assembly Government should be able to legislate to suspend the 'right to buy' council housing stock in areas where there was a shortage of social housing.
Source: The National Assembly for Wales (Legislative Competence) (Housing and Local Government) Order 2010, Legislation Committee No 2/National Assembly for Wales
Links: Report | NAW press release | Inside Housing report
Date: 2010-Feb
The Scottish Parliament approved a Bill designed to improve protection for home-owners faced with repossession at each stage of the repossession process, in particular by requiring all lenders to demonstrate in court that they had taken reasonable steps to avoid repossession.
Source: Home Owner and Debtor Protection (Scotland) Bill, Scottish Government/TSO | Scottish Parliament Debate 11 February 2010, columns 23728-23753, Official Report/TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Policy memorandum | Official Report | Scottish Government press release
Date: 2010-Feb
A report (by an official advisory body) described three new indicators of housing affordability – developed in order to show the ability to access home-ownership, and the affordability of maintaining a mortgage or renting in the private sector. In the previous decade there had been a deterioration in the affordability of home-ownership, while the affordability of private renting had remained broadly stable.
Source: Housing Affordability: A Fuller Picture, National Housing and Planning Advice Unit
Links: Report | Summary | Inside Housing report
Date: 2010-Feb
