Recently installed Labour leader Andy Burnham completed his journey to No 10 Downing Street on Monday, taking over from Keir Starmer and becoming the United Kingdom’s new prime minister.
Here’s how some of the property sector’s leaders reacted, sharing their initial thoughts on the country’s latest premier and what his appointment might mean for the industry:
Nathan Emerson, CEO of Propertymark, said: “Propertymark welcomes Andy Burnham to Downing Street, and we look forward to learning more about proposals aimed at addressing current housing concerns. There are many complex challenges that remain regarding the delivery of a sustainable mix of affordable housing across each region.
“Over the coming months, it will be essential that the sector has a clear opportunity to engage with the UK government on key housing issues, helping to ensure that the manifesto commitment to deliver 1.5 million homes across England becomes a reality.
“Looking at the bigger picture, a diverse housing mix must be delivered with a regional focus and supported by robust local infrastructure. Building homes is the challenge; building well-designed, functional communities must be the goal.”
Tony Aitken, head of planning at Colliers, said: “One of Andy Burnham’s stated planning ambitions is to build a record level of affordable council housing. This will require clear national planning policies to achieve this objective.
“It was no coincidence that the eagerly awaited update to the NPPF has been delayed until after the summer. A record level of provision of affordable and indeed market housing will also require significant levels of public funding to ensure that these developments are viable and that they have their required infrastructure in place from the outset. The Manchester conurbation has achieved this via the Good Growth Fund; a national equivalent is required.”
Nick Leeming, chairman of estate and lettings agency Jackson-Stops, said: “Andy Burnham takes office having placed housing firmly at the top of his agenda. Building more homes is essential, but the health of the market also depends on helping existing homes circulate more freely, so that more people can make the move that is right for them.
“Our latest research suggests that removing stamp duty costs could bring more than 300,000 owner-occupied homes onto the market across England within less than a year. At the same time, 42% of those whose moving plans have been delayed cited economic uncertainty as a reason.
“The new government therefore has an opportunity to restore confidence in the market by combining a clear commitment to housebuilding with stable economic management and a serious review of the upfront costs that continue to hold back buyers and sellers.
“If that can be achieved, we should see momentum return, more transactions progress and more people able to move when the time is right for them.”
Ryan Etchells, chief commercial officer at specialist mortgage lender Together, said: “A new prime minister brings a fresh start – but the challenges ahead for Andy Burnham are immense.
“The biggest challenge will be turning his local success into national growth. Infrastructure and housing need serious attention to not only keep firing the ‘northern powerhouse’ but to deliver growth for the whole country. To prevent the economy from stalling, Burnham must ensure what worked in Manchester works across Britain.
“However, while the new Labour government has signalled a willingness to spend for growth, they have very little fiscal headroom to play with. Upcoming tax decisions could make or break the administration come the autumn.
“Britain desperately needs more homes, yet rising tax pressures are making many developments unviable. Unless the government gets house builders building again and sensibly delivers on his ambitious council housing programme, growth will remain stuck in the mud.”
Andrew Lloyd, managing director at proptech company Search Acumen, said: “In property, where margins are often wafer-thin, political uncertainty has a habit of upsetting the deal’s applecart. In that respect, Burnham’s appointment is a welcome alternative to a drawn-out summer leadership contest. But with little detail on his policy agenda, businesses still face the impossible task of preparing for the unknown.
“Initial ideas that have been floated include a new land tax to replace council tax and stamp duty – a potential watershed moment for housing and a genuine attempt to align property taxation with modern economic realities. But the ambition of what would lie ahead shouldn’t be underestimated. The fact that council tax valuations haven’t been updated for 35 years shows just how politically and financially difficult such a reform would be.
“It’s true that the scale of some of the challenges the UK faces will require a fresh approach if they are to be solved. If Manchester is the model, renewed devolution could give local economies a much-needed shot in the arm. Empowering combined authorities and elected mayors could make some challenges much more manageable simply by reducing their size.
“Technology has a key role to play here, helping governments and authorities make faster, smarter decisions. Scale is no longer the challenge it once was thanks to AI, and that creates a real opportunity for a government that has the ambition to seize it.
“In Burnham’s first few weeks in power, before an autumn budget, the industry will be watching for certainty as much as reform. We’ve seen time and time again how uncertainty can quickly undermine confidence and unsettle markets. Confidence drives investment, investment drives growth, and growth ultimately funds public services.”
Colin Brown, head of planning & development at estate agency and property consultancy Carter Jonas, said: “An Andy Burnham premiership would almost certainly accelerate the shift from centralised planning policy towards regional delivery. A stronger devolved settlement is likely to be positive for development because strategic planning can give developers and landowners greater certainty about where growth is expected, what infrastructure is required and how public investment will be sequenced.
“However, devolution is useful only if it helps to unblock delivery. The opportunity is to move from policy by announcement to delivery by alignment, and a Burnham government should ultimately be judged not by how many powers it devolves, but by whether those powers produce more deliverable sites, better infrastructure and greater confidence for investment.”
Francis Truss, partner at Carter Jonas, said: “An Andy Burnham premiership will put housing much closer to the centre of economic policy. However, a modern council housebuilding programme will succeed only if it is additive, increasing supply alongside market sale, build to rent and affordable housing through Section 106, while utilising joint ventures.
“The test for the Burnham government is whether it can make public-sector ambition work with market capacity rather than against it. If council housing becomes a substitute for market delivery, the numbers will not add up, because the housing crisis is too large for one tenure, one funding stream or one sector to solve.”
Rebecca Shafran, head of commercial research at BNP Paribas Real Estate UK said: “The consensus over the direction of travel signalled to date – more devolved planning power, a renewed focus on land and property taxation, and a bigger role for the state in housebuilding – could help to address real and long-standing problems in the UK’s housing and investment markets. But it remains speculation at this point rather than policy, and that uncertainty is already a factor for investors and developers approaching investment decisions.
“As these proposals take shape, we’d suggest three things. First, clarity: the sooner the government clearly sets out what it intends to do on property taxation, the sooner the market adjusts as prolonged speculation can be more damaging to investment and transaction activity than the policy itself. Second, meaningful engagement with the industry before any changes are finalised, particularly given the viability pressures already facing development. And lastly, sensible transition periods for any reform, providing reasonable time to adjust rather than sudden changes.
“Real estate has a critical role to play in the government’s growth and housing ambitions. Getting the sequencing and detail right will determine whether this becomes a genuine opportunity for the sector or a further source of uncertainty.”
Brendan Geraghty, chief executive of the Association for Rental Living, said: “The Association for Rental Living (ARL) welcomes Andy Burnham as the leader of the Labour Party and prime minister of the UK.
“As the representative body for the institutionally backed, professionally managed rental living sector including build to rent, the ARL welcomes the prime minister’s belief that ‘everything starts with a good home’, an approach that recognises the critical importance of housing to the economic and social fabric of the nation, something that we have long called for.
“The build to rent sector has demonstrated over the last decade that institutional rental housing can deliver additional good homes, at scale and at pace, and is perfectly placed to offer hundreds of thousands more new homes, together with accountable standards, resident trust, public value and investable delivery capacity, in partnership with local authorities and the National Housing Bank.
“We support policies, together with the pledged stability of politics, that enable the delivery of new homes of all tenures and call upon the prime minister to pull the build to rent lever to realise the potential of institutional rental housing in addressing the housing crisis this nation faces, once and for all.”
Comments (3)
Nothing from the Beadle?
What I would like to know where does this chap expect to get £340m to address the homeless situation along with finance for building new homes ? Anyone know so far of the initial suggestion to build 1.5 m new homes have been built ?
A report yesterday stated that water companies only have enough spare capacity for less than half a million new homes. What will the other million, if they are ever built, use instead?