The month
There is a recession on the way. That's what the city experts are saying. But no one has told housebuyers. Consumer confidence is still holding, sales, completions, registrations and prices are all up. Interest rates are down. Housebuilders are gambling on boom, let's hope bust isn't around the corner.
Private starts
Housing market activity:
Registrations in the North East, North West, Scotland and Yorkshire and Humberside are well down. A band from Wales through to the East is holding with single figure increases and the South East and South West are down. London booms – up 43.3%.
The Business
Stockwatch
n Morgan Sindall produced a 75% rise in pre-tax profits to £10.1m in the six months to 30 June. Its Lovell housebuilding division increased operating profit by £800 000 to £1.9m on turnover up £16m to £66m. Carillion's social housing arm, bought in July, will add turnover of around £80m a year.
Business fact: background on UK housebuilders
Countryside Properties' Copthorn Homes has secured three major schemes in London worth around £50m. It will be developing 75 mixed-tenure homes on a 0.4 ha site in Vauxhall. Detailed planning consent includes 57 apartments and town houses for sale and 18 apartments for rent. For Uxbridge Road, Ealing, the proposal is to build a mixed-use scheme on a 0.10 ha site. Subject to planning permission, the development will include 29 new and refurbished homes, of which eight will be shared ownership. Copthorn Homes is also developing 61 new apartments as part of the regeneration of the Edward Woods Estate in Hammersmith.
The Trends
White goods watch
UK sales of dual fuel cookers:
The UK cookER market has been under severe price pressure for the past few years. However a star has emerged which has fuelled some value growth – the dual fuel cooking sector.
A mixture of previous experience, retailer emphasis, and trends in cooking, along with better designs and prices have meant that UK consumers are now much more likely to use a gas hob and an electric oven. Even though the trends in range cookers are the bulk behind the value growth, a similar trend has emerged in built-in cooking.
The biggest increase has been for units with conventional electric ovens, though fan-assisted models have also seen an increase. Standard 600 mm units have shown a significant 20% rise as have, surprisingly, narrower 490-520 mm-wide models. Large range cookers of more than 910 mm width have also shown an increase.
All this is very good news for a market which of late has seen little in the way of value added. Dual fuel could certainly be an attractive item for housebuilders to start providing as an optional extra – or they could even include it as standard as an additional incentive should the market slow down.
"With dual fuel cookers selling at a premium, it looks as if a much higher number of households will have dual fuel capabilities in the near future," says Aaron Rattue, account manager at Gfk Marketing Services.
Dis you know?
An index measuring optimism among US homebuilders rose to a nine-month high in August, a sign of growing demand, despite fears of a recession in the US. The National Association of Home Builders' housing market index increased to 62, the highest since November. (Source: Financial Times)
Downloads
Private Starts: May-July 01 against May-July 00
Other, Size 0 kbYear 2000/200: average New house price (August 2000-July 2001)
Other, Size 0 kbYear 2000/200: New Sales (% change against same month 2001-2000/2000-1999)
Other, Size 0 kbBerkeley Group: Sharewatch a survey of share prices during September 2000 - August 2001
Other, Size 0 kbGalliford Try: Sharewatch a survey of share prices during September 2000 - August 2001
Other, Size 0 kbAlfred McAlpine: Sharewatch a survey of share prices during September 2000 - August 2001
Other, Size 0 kbWimpey: Sharewatch a survey of share prices during September 2000 - August 2001
Other, Size 0 kbHow confident are you about the housebuilding market?
Other, Size 0 kbDual fuel cookers: (Jan-Dec 1999 compared with Jan-Dec 2000)
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Source
Building Homes