All articles by Brian Green – Page 26
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Comment
Why the "innovative" HCA Norwich City deal could prove very significant indeed
It is not just because I have family in Norwich and support Norwich City that I took a particular interest in the "innovative" deal recently struck between the city council and the Homes and Communities Agency.Nor was it because I have a great deal of respect for the knowledge and ...
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Comment
Duff jobs figures pose a threat to construction industry
The official employment figures released today show that the construction industry has lost just 40,000 jobs.That clearly is rubbish.Were the figures accurate and were the construction output figures accurate it would suggest that as the industry has plunged into recession overall labour productivity for the construction sector has fallen by ...
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Comment
5 reasons why we might be facing the mother of all construction recessions
It's coming around to the construction forecasting season again and the industry prognosticators will be gathering to discuss the ups and downs of the industry.If I were you, I'd be bracing myself for some pretty savage revisions to what already look like pretty savage forecasts.Peak to trough in the 90's ...
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And the good news is...
The uber-bearish traders in house price futures appear to have softened their view on the depth of the slump in house prices quite markedly over the past month or so.At the turn of the year you could have bought a notional average house three years hence on the futures market ...
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Comment
The orders figures and public spending fears point to industry chaos ahead - need it be so?
The good news is that after the monstrous distraction over the past month cause by raking over expense claims made by MPs we are getting back to debate about things that really will shape our lives - notably how much dosh there is (or rather isn't) in the Treasury coffers ...
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Comment
North-South divide develops in housing market - is it a cause for concern?
The latest housing market report from the surveyors' body RICS will provide further cheer for most of those selling homes.The June 2009 report suggests that the pace of collapse in prices continues to ease, the volume of sales has nudged up and there appear to be more buyers. And there ...
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Comment
Construction shrinks at the fastest rate ever recorded
It was with genuine shock that I looked at the latest output figures. I was busy finishing something off when Noble Francis of the Construction Products Association called to ask if I'd seen the figures.I thought he was pulling my chain when he read over the numbers.I'm regarded as gloomy, ...
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Comment
Why you might want to raise a glass to building homes?
As we rage about the cost to the taxpayer of 80p bath plugs and the construction of elaborate duck houses, here's a figure to contemplate.For every new home built in recessionary times, each taxpayer is about 10p to 15p better off.Not a lot maybe, but see 20 homes being built ...
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Comment
CIPS construction index bounces back, but what does that mean?
The latest survey by the buyers' body CIPS shows a remarkable bounce back in the broad construction index towards the magic 50 no-change mark.The index has risen from 30.9 in April to 38.1 in May and up to 45.9 in June. This will no doubt be taken as a sign ...
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Comment
Relief on the home front, but are we really on a road to recovery?
The relief among those connected with the house building and selling industries must be enormous at the moment.Following on from a set of more encouraging sales data and a fall in pessimism among estate agents, we had figures from Nationwide at the end of last week saying that house prices ...
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Comment
A glimpse of the future as 56% of surveyors see workload fall
Construction workload is expected to continue to collapse at a rapid pace according to the latest industry survey by the surveyors' body RICS.Surveyors experienced declines in workload across all regions and all sectors illustrating the broad spread of this recession. Across the board, more than half of surveyors saw less ...
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Comment
Latest GDP figures confirm plunging construction workload
The update on the preliminary GDP figures for the UK's economic growth confirm construction activity was down in the first quarter by 8.6% compared with a year earlier. This puts industry workload on a level with that last seen in the summer of 2003.The figures have remained unchanged since the ...
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Comment
Homes sales continued to perk up in April, but it's too early to call it a recovery
The official figures for property transactions will make comforting reading in April for those selling homes.They seem consistent with the prevailing view that the housing market, in terms of sales and not prices, is showing some signs of bouncing back up from the floor reached at the turn of the ...
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Comment
Latest official figures reveal extent of the house building challenge
The release of the first quarter 2009 house building figures for England will most likely provide a bit of everything for commentators, pundits and truth spinners.Chances are there are reasons to be more cheerful and reasons to be more depressed than you were after reading them.But for my money what ...
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Comment
Figures show more Eastern Europeans are giving up on the UK
The post credit crunch squeeze on the UK economy does appear to be encouraging more Eastern Europeans to call it a day and return home according to the latest information produced by the official statisticians at ONS.This does fit with the anecdotal evidence which suggests that the weak pound and ...
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Comment
Inflation fell more than expected in April
The rate of inflation measured on the consumer prices index (CPI) fell sharply in April from 2.9% to 2.4%.This should be seen as good news for those operating in the housing market as a persistence of over target inflation may have hastened the time when interest rates return to more ...
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Comment
Report shows 10-fold increase in 2008 in unsold new homes in London
The more you scratch the available data on residential development the more astounding seems the transformation in market conditions over 2008.I was invited to be the editor of The Red Book for this year's edition. For those not familiar with the book it is produced annually and provides analysis and ...
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Comment
And this year's new optimism is...
Everything becomes this year's new black at some point.Nothing is ever simply itself anymore. That's fine in a postmodern culture of moral relativism that is accepting of a laid back usage of language and grammar. I'm fairly relaxed about that.But there comes a point when it all gets a bit ...
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Comment
Traders see a brighter future for house prices - but still expect a further 17% drop
Follow the money they say. Well the money punted in the futures market suggests that average house prices still have at least 17% to fall.That puts the peak-to-trough drop at more than a third.But the good news for those selling homes is that the mood among the traders has perked ...
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Comment
If it's growth you want, start looking again at house building
I received a bit of a teasing prod this morning from my good friend the editor of CJ, Aaron Morby, when he rang me up to quiz me on house building targets."Don't you think we are seeing a recovery in house building?" Which he followed with: "I hope you don't ...