Sector calls on new PM Andy Burnham and returning Angela Rayner to deliver
The property market has largely welcomed the appointment of Andy Burnham as Prime Minister, but his decision to bring back Angela Raynor as Housing Secretary after her previous stamp duty controversy, has received a more mixed response. Matthew Pennycook remains as housing minister.
Paul Rickard, chief executive of Pocket Living, said: “In Andy Burnham we have a Prime Minister who has placed housing at the very heart of his domestic agenda and it is vital that his new administration not only continues with the planning reform agenda of the previous one, but seriously gets to grips with the viability challenge currently strangling the housebuilding sector across the UK.”
Nick Leeming, chairman of Jackson-Stops, said: “Andy Burnham takes office having placed housing firmly at the top of his agenda. The new Government therefore has an opportunity to restore confidence in the market by combining a clear commitment to housebuilding with stable economic management and a serious review of the upfront costs that continue to hold back buyers and sellers.”
A welcome return?
Maria Harris, chair of the Open Property Data Association (OPDA), said she was pleased to see Rayner return. “Angela Rayner’s return to the housing brief should be welcomed across the sector. She has a strong understanding of the challenges facing the housing market, a genuine passion for housing policy, and had already begun building constructive relationships with industry stakeholders before leaving the role. That existing knowledge and engagement should allow her to hit the ground running.
“With a second chance at the role she was clearly committed to, and with firsthand experience of how complex property transactions can be, Angela Rayner has the opportunity to bring compassion and a personal touch.”
Representing landlords, Ben Beadle, chief executive of the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA), also welcomed her return. “Boosting housing supply will be one of the Government’s most pressing issues, and we stand ready to work constructively with ministers on this agenda.”
However, Craig Fish, director at Lodestone Mortgages, was less welcoming. “This feels like a slap in the face to anyone who plays by the rules. She resigned over an underpaid stamp duty bill on her own home, then gets handed back the exact department that writes housing and stamp duty policy. The message that sends is that a mistake with your own tax affairs is no barrier to running the system for everyone else.
“On the positive side, she knows the brief inside out and there’s no learning curve, which matters given how urgent housing reform is.”
