TV presenter Kevin McCloud says the construction industry’s focus on profit over growth is crippling Britain’s property market.
The Grand Designs presenter added that a greater shift to self build properties would help householders get better value for money.
His comments come soon after the government's housebuilding figures revealed they fell short of their yearly targets once again as figures for the year 2022/23 show the number of net additional dwellings was 234,400, a small decline on the previous year's numbers, and over 60,000 homes below the government's yearly 300,000 target.
McCloud accuses big builders of artificially driving up house prices for profit
McCloud told City AM that the major building companies that dominate the UK marketplace are driving house prices up so they can make more profit and are ignoring the benefits of Passivhaus designs
This is a building performance standard based on the principle of reducing heating demand to a very low level through intelligent design and energy-efficient materials.
He added: “I met a housebuilder, a medium-sized firm in Lancaster, and they showed me around a whole bunch of Passive Houses they’d built with the local housing association and local authority, and they were making eight per cent to 10% profit.
“That would be enough for most companies, but the major housebuilders want more.”
How can self building solve this?
McCloud cited the popularity of self building in European countries, where companies cater to those building a house.
He said: “There’s an amazing range as there are thousands of companies building houses, not competing with big players, but selling to self builders."
He adds that in Austria, 86% of all new houses are built by their owners and in Germany it’s about half. The UK rates, meanwhile, “languish” at about 8%, meaning prices can be dictated by the larger companies.
McCloud claims Right to Build Act needs to be enforced
McCloud claims that Right to Build legislation, which aims to encourage self build homes, needs to be followed.
Launched in 2016, Right to Build is designed to help self builders and custom builders overcome one of the biggest hurdles they face — finding a self build or custom build plot.
Prospective self builders are asked to log their desire to build their own home with their local authority via the Right to Build Registers.
But McCloud says far too few authorities even have such a register and are not following the law.
He said: “So if you’re a self builder and you want to build, you can go and ask your local authority to put you on the list. It should be free to get on the list, but some authorities charge you, which is illegal.”
