The Housing Divide: London and the rest of the UK

I recently attended the North West Housing Conference and there were some interesting presentations about the future of housing. It is evident that there is a clear housing divide between London and the rest of the UK.

A three way housing divide: The North, The South and London

New homes in London

Photo courtesy of Matt Biddulph(CC ShareALike)

Economically the figures look great for London. However, what about the other UK regions? You could go so far as to say there is actually a three way divide. The North, The South (South East and South West) and London. As a nation we are clearly not building enough homes. According to Ashwin Kumar’s figures in his presentation at the North West Housing Conference we need to be building around 245,000 new homes a year. However, the UK only managed 150,000 in 2013.

London is an economic powerhouse

London is clearly a powerhouse in itself. Because of the demand in London it makes it more attractive to build new homes there. So what is stopping new homes being built in the likes of the North of England? Well clearly there is little return on investment. Why? The local economies are suffering from a lack of good infrastructure. Without this how are people going to be able to commute to places of work? There is a big driver to get those not in employment back in work. However, good public transport infrastructure (buses and trains) is a great starting point.

Infrastructure investment to boost wage growth and housing demand

So this needs to be looked at more closely in the North of England. Without a good infrastructure there is going to be a lack of appetite to develop new homes because the cost of doing so in the free market economy isn’t going to be attractive. Good infrastructure helps growing businesses as well as individuals. It encourages business to locate in an area and also means there is more availability of skilled jobs. Without this investment it’s hard to see how people can aspire to earn more as there will be less employers in the area meaning wages will be less attractive.So you need an increase in demand for jobs to help to stimulate housing investment in these areas

Compare listings

Compare

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website.