Growing demand for renting across Europe: report on the private rented sector in Europe

New research published today suggests that it is economic pressures rather than government policies which have been most important in changing the role of private renting across Europe

PRS Profiles: Learning from tenants’ experiences to improve private renting in London

Generation rent is on the rise in London. According to the English Housing Survey, over a million households rented privately in the capital last year, and the proportion of London households in the private rented sector (PRS) has grown from around 14% in 2003-2004 to almost a third 10 years later. By historic standards, this may not actually be that large[1], but the share of renters is projected to grow (Theseira 2013). Because of this, any discussion about London’s housing supply crisis must include a consideration of how to increase the supply and improve the conditions of private rented accommodation

Apex Tower: modern prefab construction techniques delivering housing London needs

Wembley is known for football and for the stadium’s iconic arch, but there’s something else distinctive about this neighbourhood of London: it is home to a growing cluster of buildings built using modular pre-fabrication techniques. This technology, also known as ‘volumetric’, could help speed construction of the new housing London needs. To find out more about it, on 25 May a group of LSE researchers visited Apex Tower, a 29-storey purpose-built student accommodation block being built by contractors Tide Construction and Vision Modular Systems. The visit was organised by Nick Barker of Gravis Capital, which owns the building, and Kieran White of Vision Modular

LSE London’s response to the Fixing our broken housing market consultation

LSE London’s response to the Fixing our broken housing market consultatio

Profile: Ailsa Street, Tower Hamlets

On the 26th of November, a small group of housing stakeholders and LSE London researchers visited the Ailsa Street site in Tower Hamlets to learn more about how one borough is overcoming barriers to increasing housing supply

How to nourish the Build to Rent sector to meet housing needs in the UK

We understand that the UK needs to increase housing supply from around 200,000 net additions to 300,000 homes per year to identify housing needs of 1.5m homes in the next five years (see our previous report with the Town & Country Planning Association). We have identified Build to Rent (BTR) as a model that can help address and meet these goals (see our previous report with Future of London). The task before us then is to clarify the potential of BTR by identifying specific policies that can yield great levels of supply from already expanding BTR investments. We provided an independent role in the collection and analysis of data for this research conducted by Savills, and sponsored by Barclays, which endeavours to make clear which specific policies can help nourish the BTR sector while it is in its infancy phase

Housing strategies for the new mayor, seminar blog

Just five days after Sadiq Khan’s election, 40 of London’s leading authorities on housing, planning and development came to an LSE London seminar to discuss what the new mayor might do to address the capital’s top priority: housing. The seminar was framed by two presentations. Kath Scanlon outlined Khan’s manifesto promises relating to housing development which can be summarised as more homes; more investment both public and private; more homes for Londoners; and more affordable homes. Tony Travers then tracked the evolution of the Mayor’s powers from a prohibition on housing expenditure at the inception of the GLA in 2000 to the transfer of HCA powers during the Coalition government, and asked whether further devolution would help meet the challenges of providing housing for a growing world city

Market VS Planning: is deregulation the answer?

At first glance the recent changes in regulation around Short-Term Letting (STL) and Permitted Development Rights (PDR) may seem to have very little in common. The 2015 Deregulation Act allowed Londoners increasing freedom to rent out all or part of their homes on a short-term basis. PDR alterations mean that it is now possible to convert properties used for office to residential development without planning permission

A case for greater planning certainty

Is the British planning system flexible, practical and site-specific? Or could it be more accurately described as erratic, inconsistent, costly and time-consuming? As part of our project on Accelerating Housing Production in London, on 9 March LSE London hosted a roundtable to discuss the uncertainty inherent in our negotiation-based system and to ask what a more certain system might look like, and whether it would lead to more homes being built in London. The participants included developers, consultants and surveyors as well as civil servants and local government representatives

Event 22 February 2012: The Impact Agenda

The Impact Agenda – an ESRC-funded seminar series – will host speakers at Seminar 5: New Frontiers of Impact on Wednesday, 22nd February 2012 from 9.00am until 5.00pm at Manchester Business School West