As Easter passes by in the blink of an eye, it’s hard to believe we’re a third of the way through 2022 already! And there are still plenty of interesting trends and initiatives emerging throughout the property industry.
From funding opportunities to housing availability, we’ve been keeping an eye on the must-know developments once again this month. Here’s a quick rundown of April’s headlines…
A £4 million fund for 1,200 affordable homes is unveiled
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has unveiled a Community Housing Fund this month, as part of an initiative to put people in the driving seat of upcoming developments in their local area.
The fund will enable 1,200 community-led homes to be built across the UK, covering costs from searches and planning applications, to design fees and public meetings.
As well as helping to improve the design and construction quality of homes, the government believes that this project will create job opportunities for smaller businesses which will, in turn, boost the local economy.
36 developers agree to cladding pledge
At the beginning of the year, the Secretary of State for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities set out a new pledge to reset building safety in England – stipulating that developers should remediate life critical fire safety works in buildings over 11 metres tall and less than 30 years old.
Since the announcement, the pledge has been agreed to by 36 developers, who will shortly be expected to sign a corresponding legally-binding contract and inform leaseholders of how these commitments will be met.
UK Build-to-Rent homes increase by a fifth year-on-year
This month, the British Property Federation published data which shows that the Build-to-Rent sector continues to grow at pace – with the number of homes up 11,703 on the previous year.
As the sector’s planning pipeline continues to grow and larger-scale developments emerge, this is great news for the shortage of rental stock in recent months – with supply in urban and suburban markets having the potential to sustain housing delivery volumes once the Help to Buy scheme ceases in March 2023.
And there you have it! That’s all for this month’s property news insight instalment, but be sure to check back in a few weeks’ time for some more must-know headlines.
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