A report published by the Competition and Markets Authority in February 2024 found ‘fundamental concerns’ about the UK housebuilding market.
The CMA report noted “housebuilders do not have strong incentives to compete on quality”. Furthermore, a growing number of homeowners are reporting a higher number of snagging issues, and “consumers have unclear routes of redress”.
Consumers are taking note. A December 2023 report from CIOB highlighted consumers’ increasing negative perception of the quality of new-build homes, with 55% of those surveyed believing “older homes were better quality than new-builds”. Almost a third of respondents had a “low level of trust” of housebuilders building new homes to a high standard and described new-build housing as “poor quality”.
Sarah Cardell, Chief Executive of the CMA, said:
“Housebuilding in Great Britain needs significant intervention so that enough good quality homes are delivered in the places that people need them.”
The CMA also highlighted the limitations of private speculative development, with evidence showing that “private developers produce houses at a rate at which they can be sold without needing to reduce their prices, rather than diversifying the types and numbers of homes they build to meet the needs of different communities”.
The Good Homes Alliance has long called for increased quality of new homes, verification of building performance, and a fairer deal for consumers. We support the CMA in their call for a single mandatory consumer code so homeowners can more easily hold homebuilders to account over any quality issues they face.
Join us at this webinar as we debate the challenges and discuss the way forward.
Confirmed speakers
Programme
13:30 Welcome from GHA and summary of CMA report – Lynne Sullivan OBE, Chair, Good Homes Alliance
13:45 Summary of CIOB findings from author of the December 2023 report – David Parry, Senior Parliamentary & Public Affairs Officer, Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB)
14:00 Case studies, lessons learned and industry insights from GHA developer members and SME housebuilders
- Chris Carr, Managing Director, Carr & Carr (Builders) Ltd and Federation of Master Builders (FMB) National President
- Neil Murphy, Founding Director, TOWN
- Ian Pritchett, Co-Founder and Growth & Innovation Director, Greencore Homes
14:30 Debate and Q&A
15:00 Close
Key details
Date: Thursday 27th June 2024
Time: 13:30-15:00
Location: Online
Registration fees:
- Free for GHA members (incl. BPN members)
- £10 +VAT for members of partner organisations*
- £20 +VAT for general admittance
*Partner organisations include: AECB, Passivhaus Trust, SuperHomes, STBA, TCPA, The Green Register, The Alliance for Sustainable Building Products, UKIEG, Woodknowledge Wales.
Image credit: Getty Images; Copyright: Alistair Forrester Shankie