Attending the Launch of the House Builders' Survey at the House of Commons yesterday was an opportunity to discuss the dwindling number of homes built by SMEs. The number has declined from 40% in the late 1980s to only 10% of new homes today.
Annie, our Director of Public Affairs, was able to join the discussions as to the reasons for this downward trend.
The main constraints as identified in the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) report are:
Planning system
Restricted mortgage availability
Lack of small sites & available land
Material costs (although this is likely to improve)
Lack of finance
Workforce shortages and lack of skills is impacting the SME sector, although this is now dropped to sixth place. Annie, as Chair of the FMB Training Group, is keen that a skilled workforce is ready to allow SMEs to start building more much needed homes.