There’s been a fall in both individuals and groups joining the Self Build Registers kept by local authorities – much to the lamentation of Suffolk Building Society.
The society is a big supporter of self build, which accounted for 12.5% of its gross lending in 2022.
Richard Norrington, its chief executive, said: “There is a huge opportunity for brokers to help evolve the UK’s self build market and, at the same time, potentially open up new revenue streams.
“Many have a wealth of skills and knowledge in this market that could be applied to help more people access this route to homeownership.
“We believe national and local governments can also step up and deliver on the commitments made in response to the ‘Bacon Review’, as we know that finding the right plot of land is a real sticking point in the self build process.”
Between 31 October 2021 and 30 October 2022 8,034 individuals joined the register, a decrease of 34% from the same period a year earlier
A total of 99 new groups joined the register, a decrease of 37% from the previous year
Some 6,374 planning permissions were granted for serviced plots suitable for self and custom build, a decrease of 23% from the same period a year earlier
In response to Recommendation 2: Raise Awareness of Right to Build, in the Independent review into scaling up self build and custom housebuilding, (the ‘Bacon Review’ 24 June 2022), government said, “…England does not have a strong culture of building or commissioning our own homes. Subsequently, awareness and understanding of self-commissioned housing and the different models available can create a barrier to the development of the sector. The government agrees that in order to maximise the potential take-up of self and custom build homes and to meet the ambition for the growth of the sector, it is important that individuals are aware that building your own home is a viable option available when buying a new home and also the different routes that this can encompass.”
It recognises that better awareness of Self Build and Custom Housebuilding Registers is necessary. Rather than simply ‘encouraging’ local authorities to consider additional innovative methods of publicising their registers to increase awareness, it now plans to mandate that these are promoted.
It also indicated that it would launch a national consumer marketing campaign and website providing public information on the matter.
Norrington added: “We recognise that the cost of living and increase in build costs will mean fewer people are in a position to consider self build right now but we also believe more needs to be done to generate wider awareness so that self build can be accessed by more people.
“In our experience, too many still regard self build as a project for those with the luxury of a large budget but it could be much more mainstream if a greater number of people understood how to go about it and knew that it is feasible within a modest budget.
“We are in need of new affordable housing stock and self build has the potential to help more people get on to the property ladder. It is also in line with the government’s climate change agenda as these new homes often exceed energy performance standards.
“The UK is not lacking lenders who understand this market and who are ready and willing to lend to self builders, but the awareness amongst the general public is simply not there. It is well documented that we are behind our European counterparts on this front and so we are also calling for national and local governments to do more.
“There are many good recommendations in the Bacon Review and in the government’s response to it and we suggest that these are now taken forward as a matter of urgency.
“In the meantime, local authorities do not need to wait until they are mandated to promote their own self build registers – they could be using their own websites and social media channels to push this agenda at very little cost.
“In 2016, we supported NaCSBA at the launch of its Right To Build Portal at the Right to Build Summit, held at the House of Commons, so we know just how hard these registers were campaigned for and we fear that if they sit on local authority sites with little promotion, the heart of the legislation will be lost.”
