[1]Andy Sommerville, director of Search Acumen [1], comments on the RICS residential market survey [2] for October:
“It’s looking likely that the Chancellor will use his Autumn Statement later this month to announce the conversion of old Victorian prisons into homes for prospective buyers looking to get on the housing ladder.
“With a quarter more chartered surveyors seeing a rise in the capital’s house prices [3], and the state of London’s housing market rippling out across the South East, prisons at Reading, Wandsworth and Pentonville would be a great place to start.
“Although the government is making progress in getting these old public sector sites ready for housebuilding, the demand for lettings and houses is outstripping supply by a mile.
“Today’s figures are another clear sign that there needs to be a dramatic increase in housing supply, and an almost revolutionary shift in planning reform to appease a very real shortage. A successful sales and lettings market needs a healthy supply of new build homes.”