Huddersfield Homeownership Rockets by 3,332 Homes in the Last 5 Years

 

 

·             The Huddersfield housing market over the last five years has behaved oddly.

 

·         Huddersfield house prices are 34.4% higher than in 2017, even though during those five years, the British economy had the uncertainty of Brexit and the massive fall in GDP during the pandemic.

 

·         Yet, a less observed trend is that the net number of homeowners in Huddersfield has risen by 3,332 households, a jump of 3.7%.

 

·         Why has growth in homeownership happened, and what does it mean for Huddersfield's existing homeowners (and landlords)?

 

With the newspapers full of news about the death of homeownership and the growth in Generation Rent, it must surprise many (as it did with me) that the number of homeowners in Huddersfield has grown.

 

To give some context…

 

the number of homeowners in Huddersfield dropped between 2011 and 2017 by 339 households, yet between 2017 and 2021, that grew by 3,332 households.

 

So, what is behind this growth in homeownership and is it a good thing?

 

Politicians love it when homeownership rises, as they believe owning a house turns individuals into model upright citizens. It was one of the critical reasons for the council house sell-off in the 1980s.

 

Yet the hard data to back this up is unexpectedly slim, whilst other studies hint that homeownership has some harmful costs to the economy, such as reduced entrepreneurial spirit and the disinclination to move home to find work.

 

However, increasing homeownership may be a good foundation for Britain’s economic recovery after the last few years. Homeowners have a greater propensity to live in single-family unit homes like townhouses and semi-detached houses.

 

A greater demand for more single-use homes supports the construction of such dwellings (instead of other types such as small apartment blocks or Homes of Multiple Occupation). This is important because single-family unit homes tend to be better build quality, have more extensive gardens, and have more local amenities.

 

So, what are the sort of numbers I am talking about in Huddersfield?

 

In 2017, there were 43,405 Huddersfield owner-occupied homes.

By 2021, this had grown to 46,737 Huddersfield homes.

 

This means homeownership in Huddersfield has risen from 60.65% of the households in Huddersfield in 2017 to 62.88% in 2021, a proportional increase of 3.7%.

So, what is behind this growth in homeownership?

 

1.      95% mortgages have been readily available at low-interest rates now for over a decade. In 2017, first-time buyers also got an exemption from stamp duty. This created a perfect storm of demand, which caused the number of Huddersfield first-time buyers to rise.

 

2.      Whilst the rise in homeownership in Huddersfield precedes the pandemic by a couple of years, another factor to the growth relates to the last property market recession of 2008/9 (the Credit Crunch). Between 2009 and 2012, many Huddersfield homeowners found themselves unemployed and still had to pay mortgages at 6% to 8%. Some homes were repossessed or some had to sell their home at a low price to unshackle themselves from their high mortgage costs. This development, nevertheless, took many agonising years to play out, reducing the homeownership until the middle of the last decade.

 

3.      People’s views on the way they live have altered during the lockdowns. In a sphere of stay-at-home instructions and social distancing, the peace of mind of homeownership gives Huddersfield homeowners the security of tenure.

 

4.      Finally, there has been a long-term change in the demographics of the UK. Millennials (currently aged between 26 and 41) are less likely to be homeowners than their Baby Boomer parents were at the same age. Yet, the British millennial generation is now entering its prime home-buying period as they have saved their deposit and are more likely to inherit money from their grandparents. (The average age of a first-time home-buyer in the UK is 33 compared to 26 in the mid-1990s).

 

So, the final question has to be…

 

how much further could homeownership go in Huddersfield?

 

The biggest hurdle could prove to be the supply of available homes.

 

Many 'accidental landlords' have been selling their properties recently, which first-time buyers have bought. Accidental landlords put their own homes up for rent in the early to mid-2010’s because they could not sell. Now they have been motivated to cash in on the higher Huddersfield house prices in the last couple of years, which increased the supply of properties to buy for owner-occupation.

 

Also, the number of houses on the market in the UK available to buy has increased from existing owner-occupiers. In December 2021, there were 355,700 properties for sale yet by March 2022, that had risen to 431,000. This is giving greater confidence to other Huddersfield homeowners too scared to put their homes up for sale because they are concerned they would to not be able to find anything else. Things are starting to change in that regard. 

 

Also, there are signs of a recovery in British new home building as the number of new housing starts in 2021 hit the highest level since the financial crisis of 2007. Yet with a steady increase in Huddersfield landlords returning to the market in the last few months, this tide will turn.

 

Huddersfield’s homeownership could continue to swell for a while yet!

 

P.S. What does this mean to the private rented sector in Huddersfield? Come back next week as I give some fantastic insights every Huddersfield landlord will want to read to ensure they remain profitable in the Huddersfield buy-to-let market.

 

4,865 Brighouse Terraced Houses Why Are They So Popular?

 

The terraced house is one of the most familiar styles of home in Brighouse (and the UK as a whole).

 

32.6% of Brighouse people live in a terraced home, interesting when compared with the national average of 22.7%.

 

So, what is it about the humble terraced/townhouse us Brits love so much? In this article, I look at the history of the terraced house, how it relates to Brighouse and what the future holds for terraced homes.

 

A terraced house is a property built as part of a continuous row of three (or more) properties in a similar and uniform style.

 

The reason the British call them 'terraced houses' and not 'row houses' came about because 18th century British architects borrowed the phrase 'terrace' from 'terraced gardens’. Terraced gardens were known for their uniform nature (in looks, style and height etc.), so the architects decided to name them the same way as opposed to a ‘row house'. In fact, in most countries, they are called 'row houses'.

 

The terraced house originated in the Low Countries of Europe

 in the late 1500s.

 

Terraced houses were first built en-masse in the UK after the Great Fire of 1666 with the rebuilding of London.

 

They became fashionable for the landed gentry in the early Georgian era with chic and stylish terraces appearing in London's Mayfair and Bath with its Queen Square (the forerunner of the famous Royal Crescent) and were sometimes built around a garden square.

 

However, it wasn’t until the early 1800s that the terraced house turned out to be the solution to the increasing population of the towns as more and more people were attracted to towns and cities for work.

 

The terraced house fell out of favour with the upper-middle classes in the late Victorian age (1870’s onwards) as they wanted more privacy and space. They moved to live in detached houses or semi-detached villas, as the terrace house had started to become associated with the lower-middle and working classes.

 

With all these terraced houses being built, their quality of construction and design dropped as builders tried to squeeze more profit. The biggest issue was that most of the terraced houses built in the early to mid-Victorian age (1840s to 1870s) were made back-to-back with no rear garden, causing unsanitary conditions. Therefore, the Public Health Act of 1875 was introduced to regulate the building of terraced houses with design and standards.

 

These new building standards in the Act improved the terraced house’s ventilation and, more importantly, required the house to have a toilet (frequently built outside). To meet these new building standards, the designs of these new houses created the well-known landscape of ‘grid' streets lined with two-storey terraces serviced by a pedestrian path between them, the name of which is a hotly debated topic. The various names for the pathway include alleyway / jitty / cut/ ginnel / snicket / passageway / ten foot / five foot / witchel / lonnin / vennel.

 

As a Brighouse resident, why not say what you call them in the comments?

 

As we entered the 20th Century, the terrace house continued to be popular, albeit with some new architectural additions.

 

The advent of Arts and Craft architecture with stain glass windows, Tudor style cladding, ornate porches, and elaborate chimney stacks.

 

After the First World War and the introduction of the Housing and Town Planning Act 1919 (which made local councils build council houses), the Victorian terraced rapidly became associated with overcrowding and slums (especially those back-to-back terraced houses built before 1875). Many of the back-to-back terraced houses were knocked down between 1930 and 1960 in what is known as the slum clearances.

 

Private builders started building the iconic suburban semi-detached houses with more extensive gardens, and local authorities decided to build high-rise blocks after World War II. Yet after the partial collapse of Ronan Point in 1968, the popularity of high-rise tower blocks waned.

 

Since the early 1990s though, the terraced house has steadily come back into favour as building land prices have increased by 322% in the last 30 years.

 

Many private builders have started to build modern three-storey townhouses in rows of five to seven. This terraced 'townhouse-style' allows three and four bedrooms on a land footprint that would have usually only accommodated a smaller two-bed property.

 

So, let's look at some interesting stats on Brighouse terraced houses.

 

·         There are 4,865 terraced houses in Brighouse (broken down as 3,467 privately owned terraced houses, 357 terraced council houses and 1,041 in the private rented sector)

 

·         21.4% of terraced houses in Brighouse are in the private rented sector, which is above the national average of 19.1%

 

·         One of the most expensive terraced houses sold in Brighouse was on Halifax Road, Brighouse for £367,000 in 2017

 

·         The cheapest Brighouse terraced house sold in the last two years was on Bramston Street, a terraced house for £39,000

 

·         Terraced houses in Brighouse sell for an average of £143 per square foot

 

I hope you found that thought-provoking?

 

So, why is the terraced house, be it a red brick Victorian house or a more modern three-storey townhouse, still popular today in Brighouse?

 

They are typically well built, cheaper to maintain (especially the older terraced houses), comparatively spacious, and in good locations. Many terraced houses have been improved and extended through the inventive use of rear gardens/yards and converted roof spaces; their unpretentious design remains adaptable enough for 21st century living; what isn't there to like about them?

 

These are my thoughts; tell me your thoughts about the humble yet versatile Brighouse terraced house.

54% Drop in Huddersfield Council Houses in the Last 40 Years

 

·         In 1981, 26.2% of properties in Huddersfield (and the Kirklees Borough as a whole) were council houses. Today, that figure stands at 12%, a proportional drop of 54%.

 

·         Why has the number of council houses dropped so much in those 40 years?

 

·         How has that changed the dynamics of the Huddersfield property market in those 40 years?

 

The ability of local authorities to build council houses came into law in July 1919 with the 1919 Housing and Town Planning Act. It was one of the most important pieces of domestic legislature passed after WW1 and was the first time in the UK that a nationally public funded system of providing homes was made for the masses. It was paid for mostly by central government and provided by local authorities (councils) and public utility societies (which in later years became today’s housing associations). 

 

Between 1919 and 1979, 6.94 million council houses were built.

 

Just over 1 million council houses were built between 1920 and 1939, whilst 5,804,150 council houses were built between 1946 and 1979. This is compared to 4,533,440 private homes and 260,910 housing association properties in the same time frame (’46 to ’79).

 

So, between 1946 and 1979, the council house was the dominate force of British housing. But that all changed in 1979!

 

Many people believe it was Margaret Thatcher who was the architect of allowing the sitting tenant of a council house to buy their home. Interestingly, council house tenants have been able to buy their council house from as early as the mid 1930s, albeit with little or no discount. Also, as late as 1977, the Labour Housing Minster published a Green Paper extolling the virtues of homeownership and council tenants being able to buy their home at a discount.

 

But after the General Election of 1979, the new Tory government drafted the Housing Act 1980, which gave the Right to Buy, which became law in the autumn of 1980. Then things really took off!

This new law established a right for most council tenants who had been in their home for three years or more to a discount. The discount started at 33% and increased by 1% for each extra year, up to a maximum of 50%. If the tenant sold the house within the first five years of ownership, a prorated repayment of their discount was required.

 

Between 1980 and 1989, 970,558 council houses

nationally were sold at a discount.

 

Yet the issue was, when a council house was sold, it took that house out of the council’s portfolio for future generations. From the start, there were limitations on local authorities’ use of monies from the council house sales as most of it had to be given to central government in London, meaning only 390,560 new council houses were built between 1980 and 1989. Looking at the numbers locally …

 

in 1981, there were 35,648 council houses

in Kirklees, today it’s 20,886.

 

No wonder the country has a housing crisis … yet as my regular readers know - the devil is in the detail … and that devil is the humble housing association. 

 

The Tory General Election Manifesto in 1979 had proposed the rights for both council house and housing association tenants to buy their own house under the Right to Buy scheme. The Conservatives argued housing associations, who obtained government funding, should be subject to the same Right to Buy proposals as councils. The Government won the vote in the Commons, yet lost the vote in the Lords, meaning housing association tenants could not buy their homes at a large discount.

 

At the time, there were only 400,000 housing association properties in the country, so the Government were not that worried. But the significance of housing associations developed in the 1980s and beyond as they were allowed to borrow money from the private sector.

 

Between 1949 and 1979, the average number of housing association properties built annually was 8,524. Since 1979 to today, it has been 25,062 per year (and 31,606 per year in the 2010s).

 

Also, the Government encouraged councils to transfer their remaining council houses to housing association schemes from 1986. The advantage to these ‘stock transfers’ was the Government allowed housing associations to access private funding to improve their existing properties and buy new ones (good news for existing tenants complaining that the local authority never upgraded their homes).

 

Moreover, the Tory Government liked stock transfers, as it allowed them to dismantle council housing from the inside. Interestingly, Labour expanded the ‘Stock Transfer’ process in 1997 and further reduced the eligibility for council tenants’ Right to Buy, meaning the number of council tenants exercising their Right to Buy declined considerably.

 

Meaning today, even though the provision of council housing has dropped like the proverbial

stone … 

 

the number of housing association properties in Kirklees

has increased from 1,280 in 1981 to 5,639.

 

So, how has this changed the dynamic of the Huddersfield property market in the last 40 years?

 

Would it surprise you to learn that the number of people who own their own Huddersfield home today is very similar to what it was 20 years ago before the property boom started? It’s just that even though we’ve had a large drop in the number of council houses and an increase in the number of housing association properties, the number of people owning their own home has remained relatively the same (in some areas of Huddersfield this has actually increased), the significant issue is the growth of the private rented sector.

 

It's almost as if people who used to rent from the council

now rent from a private landlord.

 

The question is, is it right for private individuals to make money from tenants who rent from them as opposed to the local authority? Or are private landlords providing better types, choices and quality of accommodation for these tenants, albeit at a higher rental rate than if they rented a council house?

 

I really do believe if it wasn’t for the growth of the buy-to-let landlord, which began in the early 2000s, we would have an even bigger housing crisis on our hands than the one we have currently.

 

Both local and central government have had their hands tied behind their backs since 2008 with a lack of funding, and it’s the humble private landlord who has stepped up and supplied in excess of 2.3million additional rental properties since 2001, housing nearly 5,520,000 Brits. These landlords have saved the day since the big council house sell off in the 1980s!

 

What are your thoughts on this matter?