DFT has been told that the challenge of getting people from where they live to where they work is minor compared to the scale of housebuilding needed to cope with London’s growing population.
Bob Sturges, Head of Communications at Omni Capital, believes that projects such as Crossrail 1 and 2 along with an efficient public transport system means future housebuilding will take place outside of the usual target areas.
“If people don't like commuting but can't afford prime central London, well, tough - that's life,” said Bob.
“London is a highly commutable metropolis with a public transport system that is measurably better than many of its similarly-developed global rivals.
"I think it's less a case of where London needs homes than where the opportunities lay for building more homes of the right type.”
Scott Marshall, Director at Roma Finance, says Crossrail is already pushing up property prices outside of central London.
“Some reports say prices have already jumped by £100,000 for a good location,” said Scott.
“There doesn't seem to be enough schemes to cope with demand, so one solution is to build more HMOs (houses in multiple occupation) which can house more people and still give a decent yield return for the developer or landlord.
“Smaller, shared living spaces need to be considered as a matter of urgency for London to continue to support its residents."
House prices in London have soared in recent years because of the capital’s growing population and the government has recently announced measures to free up land it owns to ease the strain.
But, towards the end of last year HouseSimple.com revealed that new property listings in London had stagnated with not a single borough reporting a rise in property listings.
Ashley Ilsen, Head of Lending at Regentsmead, agrees with Bob saying that new housing shouldn’t be targeted at specific areas of the capital.
“It’s easy to pick hotspots and highlight where there are certain shortages but the whole of London and to an extent the Home Counties have a severe shortage of housing and new homes,” said Ashley.
“The area will obviously dictate the price but, if we were able to somehow significantly increase the supply of new homes, we should, in theory, be able to take the sting out of the rise in house prices over the last few years.”
Scott said the London housing bubble is showing no signs of bursting and believes that one solution to alleviate the problem is to redevelop disused buildings.
“If the building itself can't be renovated then the land it's on needs to be made available for new schemes,” said Scott.
“But either way it won't come cheap.”
Extending Permitted Development rules has helped to free up land in London, but Bob says these schemes will result in the pursuit of money.
“It’s a fact in free-market economies that developers chase the money,” added Bob.
“If government and local authorities want more mixed-use developments then they need to get-together and come up with a co-ordinated and coherent strategy.
“It's their responsibility to take the lead in this, not the private sector's."
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