Morning Briefing: ‘fast-tracked’ Spending Review to determine funding for housing

In the news

New chancellor Sajid Javid has taken the unusual step of announcing a one-year Spending Review, meaning funding decisions, including how much money will go into the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, will be taken on a short-term basis only.

Analysis by the BBC suggests that the decision will make it harder for departments to plan for the longer term, with another Spending Review scheduled for a year later.

Elsewhere, The Times reports on analysis by the housing charity Shelter, which has found that the gap between planning permission approvals and homes built has widened in each of the past three years.

While planning approval was awarded for 382,997 homes in England last year, more than double the approval rate for six years ago, only 195,294 homes were built.

In potentially related news, The Guardian has spoken to estate agency Savills, which says that the UK housing market is at its weakest point since the global financial crisis.

It says that the average price of London homes sold by Savills in the first half of 2019 fell by 32%, to £2.1m, compared to the previous year.

This comes as Reuters reports on a surge in home repossessions in England and Wales, which have hit their highest levels since late 2014.

According to figures from the Ministry of Justice, there were 6,179 claims in county courts from mortgage lenders for repossession in the three months to June, a 39% rise compared to the previous year.