Housing as a driver for economic growth: Lessons learned from Birmingham City Council

Abstract

The development of new housing has the potential to make a huge contribution to the UK economy, boost GDP and deal with the shortages of housing that affect many parts of the UK. Development risk is the key deterrent facing the private sector in bringing forward new supply, and public-sector landowners can play a key role in de-risking sites and incentivising development. This case study shows how ‘build now, pay later’ models can be highly successful in de-risking development and getting the private sector to get back to building new homes. This paper sets out how one local authority has proactively incentivised private-sector developers to build homes for sale in challenging areas with a weak housing market.