Experts at Rightmove have revealed five things that need to change in housing ahead of the general election.
The areas of change have been identified after a report was carried out to highlight home-owner and renter insights, as well as views from agents and Rightmove’s housing and mortgage market experts.
Rightmove’s CEO, Johan Svanstrom, said:
“Being the UK’s largest home listing and search platform, it’s clear to us from our large data sets, consumer surveys and talking to our agent partners that there are definite opportunities to improve fundamental aspects of the housing market.
“They include helping first-time buyers, building more homes and driving higher digitisation of processes. There’s also an increasingly critical need to support builders and people to make their homes greener. We’re keen to continue to help the industry and government with insights from the millions of people who use Rightmove.”
We have broken down the suggestions made by Rightmove ahead of the general election:
1) Accelerate house-building
According to Rightmove, the next government needs to accelerate house-building for sale and rent, along with longer-term solutions to help more people afford to buy their first home.
Rightmove experts explained that the undersupply of housing in the UK has contributed to ever-increasing house prices and rents, with national average asking prices of homes now 22% higher than five years ago, at £375,131, and national advertised rents up by 40%, at £1,479 per calendar month.
Statistics show that over the past five years, the gap between supply and demand has widened. Demand is measured by looking at the number of people sending enquiries about homes for sale or to rent on Rightmove.
Since April 2019, buyer demand has risen by 15%, while supply has decreased by 6%. Meanwhile, in the rental market, demand has increased by 32%, with supply reducing by 38%.
If the delivery of new homes can be accelerated, whilst still maintaining quality levels, it could help more people wanting to move to their next home or to get on to the property ladder.
Rightmove’s property expert, Tim Bannister, says:
“One way that could help to accelerate house-building is to streamline the planning process, which is highly complex and challenging.
If the government can create smoother processes, working closely with all key stakeholders, it could transform the delivery of new homes and produce more affordable housing. Not only could this help first-time buyers, it could also open up a big opportunity to help downsizers move to greener homes with lower running costs.”
2) First-time buyer support
According to Rightmove’s study, more support for first-time buyers was the most requested change among renters from the next government. Experts said stretched affordability and elevated mortgage rates in recent years have made it challenging for people trying to pay high rent costs, save for a deposit, and earn enough to pass affordability tests.
Rightmove’s mortgages expert, Matt Smith, suggests a review of mortgage affordability criteria could help. He said:
“There’s an opportunity to unlock greater affordability in a responsible way, which could help more first-time buyers get on the ladder.
“First-time buyers are already taking out longer mortgage terms and lender innovation has included the introduction of longer-term fixed rates that are likely to be part of the solution as they help by ensuring certainty of payments.
“He explained that various mortgage schemes such as Help to Buy have helped to support a number of new homeowners, but people would like to see more long-term schemes introduced.”
3) Stamp Duty reform
The biggest change that homeowners and agents would like the government to introduce is a reform of the stamp duty system.
The experts said the barrier that stamp duty presents, especially in higher-priced areas, could be preventing thousands of people from moving. If a new stamp duty system took into account regional property prices or helped encourage more people to downsize, it could help movement in the market.
Data from Rightmove shows that in London, only 4% of homes for sale are exempt from the current stamp duty charges for all buyers, compared to 71% in the North East.
Rightmove’s property expert, Tim Bannister, said:
“At the very least, the next government should make the current changes to first-time buyer stamp duty charges in England permanent, as the higher thresholds introduced in 2022 are due to expire next year.
“But there’s also a bigger opportunity to reform stamp duty to encourage more movement up and down the property ladder. With such regional variations in property prices, increasing stamp duty thresholds in line with these regional variations would seem a logical first step for stamp duty reform.”
4) Greater green incentives
Green incentives were the third most requested change of the next government from home-owners.
Experts say the focus on helping people make their homes greener has fallen off the government’s agenda in recent years. A proposed deadline for landlords to improve homes up to an EPC rating of C was scrapped, and at present, there is a lack of awareness among homeowners about what changes they should make and why.
Rightmove’s data shows a decline in the number of landlords planning to make energy-efficiency upgrades to properties with lower EPC ratings. In 2022, over a third (36%) of landlords said they planned to make improvements to properties rated below a C. In late 2023, after the government had announced they were scrapping targets, this dropped to 26%.
Rightmove’s lettings expert Christian Balshen, says:
“Landlords need clarity around any legislation that may come in, but also need help with incentives such as bigger, more widely accessible grants or tax savings, as these in turn will help tenants.”
Home-owners also need better and easier access to schemes that enable them to make green improvements, with the recognition that each home requires different improvements and that currently, the upfront costs are a big barrier to change.
5) Simplifying and speeding up the home-buying process
Rightmove’s study also found that homeowners want ways to simplify the home-buying process. At present, figures show it is taking over seven months on average from when someone puts their home up for sale until they move. This is leaving homeowners left to navigate a complex and frustrating process.
Rightmove’s legal expert, David Cox, says:
“It’s vital that the next government works closely with the property industry to come up with standardised solutions to help speed up the home-moving process, to benefit both home-movers and agents.
“Digitisation is key, and there has been innovation in this space, but it also needs a solid focus from the next government. A well-developed and adopted solution has the potential to not only accelerate the home-buying process but also encourages a less stressful, better understood and more seamless transaction for home-movers.”
Further reading
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