As more babies are being born to Southampton mothers, I believe
this increase will continue to add pressure to the over stretched Southampton
property market and materially affect the local property market in the years to
come.
On the back of eight years of ever incremental increasing birth
rates, a significant 8.06 babies were born for every new home that was built in
the Southampton council area in 2016. I
believe this has and will continue to exacerbate the Southampton housing
shortage, meaning demand for housing, be it to buy or rent, has remained high. The high birth rate has meant Southampton
rents and Southampton property prices have remained resilient – even with the
challenges the economy has felt over the last eight years, and they will
continue to remain high in the years to come.
This ratio of births to new homes has reach one its highest
levels since 1945 (back in the early
1970’s the average was only one and a half births for every household built).
Looking at the local birth rates, the latest
figures show we in the Southampton council area had an average of 56.3 births per
1,000 women aged 15 to 44. Interestingly,
the national average is 61.7 births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44 and for the
region it’s also 61.7 births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44.
The number of births from Southampton women between the ages of
20 to 29 are significantly lower than the national average, but those between
35 and 44 were closer to the national average. However overall, the birth rate is still
increasing, and when that fact is combined with the ever-increasing life
expectancy in the Southampton area, the high levels of net migration into the area
over the last 14 years (which I talked about in the previous articles) and the
higher predominance of single person households … this can only mean one thing
... a huge increase in the need for housing in Southampton.
Again, in a previous article a while back, I said more and more people
are having children as tenants because they feel safe in rented accommodation. Renting is becoming a choice for Southampton
people.
The planners and Politian’s of our local authority, central
Government and people as a whole need to recognise that with individuals living
longer, people having more children and whilst divorce rates have dropped
recently, they are still at a relatively high level (meaning one household
becomes two households) ... demand for property is simply outstripping
supply.
The simple fact is more Southampton properties need to be built
… be that for buying or renting.
Only 1.1% of the Country is built on by houses.
Now I am not suggesting we build tower
blocks in the middle Southampton Common, but the
obsession of not building on any green belt land should be carefully re-considered.
Yes, we need to build on brownfield sites first, but there
aren’t hundreds of acres of brownfield sites in Southampton, and what
brownfield sites there are, building on them can only work with complementary
public investment. Many such sites are
contaminated and aren’t financially viable to develop, so unless the Government
put their hand in their pocket, they will never be built on.
I am not
saying we should crudely go ‘hell for
leather’ building on our Green Belt, but we need a new approach to enable some
parts of the countryside to be regarded more positively by local authorities,
politicians and communities and allow considered and empathetic development. Society in the UK needs to look at the green belts
outside their leisure and visual appeal, and assess how they can help to shape
the way we live in the most even-handed way. Interesting times!
If you are looking for an agent that is well established, professional andcommunicative, then contact us to find out how we can get the best out of your investment property.
Email me on brian.linehan@belvoirlettings.com or call on 023 8001 8222.
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