Increase Home Building To Boost Glazing

Over the coming years, the efforts to keep Britain’s economy growing during the negotiating process with the EU is going to be imperative. Stock markets and Sterling are going to have more ups and downs than an entire theme part packed with roller coasters. So the powers that be in this country need to look at ways of keeping the growth wagon trundling on.

They could start with a big issue that has needed addressing for at least two decades, and that is housing.

Unlock growth via housing

Our country is simply not building enough houses. It is one of the main reasons why the prices of homes are rising multiple times faster than wages are rising. It is leaving generations behind, stuck in expensive rent cycles, or stuck at home. Whichever it is, it’s keeping locked away a wealth of spending by a whole demographic of people which would give the UK economy a pretty healthy boost.

It’s quite simple when you think about it. Build more homes, quicker. This would help stabilise house prices in this country, which isn’t a bad thing, even if the media pop veins telling you how bad it is. In turn it would bring the prices of new homes down as well. To levels that first time buyers could actually afford.

At the moment the UK average house price stands at a staggering £218,964. There are regional variations of course. The average house price in the South East is £365,945. The average house price in Yorkshire, my neck of the woods, is £170,349. If you’re in London, it’s a depressing £472,218. To save a 10% deposit for a house worth the national average is nearly £22k. Add in fees, home renovations and other necessary purchases, and you can see how so many 21-30 year olds are priced out of owning their first home.

So it is imperative that the UK gets building, and gets building in a very big way. The UK Government wants to build nearly 250,000 houses a year. Right now we can’t even break six figures. We’re miles behind. It’s time we renewed impetus and unlocked a wealth of growth in the residential construction sector.

Benefits to glazing and all trades

A big boost in home building would bring a very obvious boost to all associated trades, including the glazing sector. The more homes that need to be built, the more work there is for other trades to help get homes to completion. The more windows and doors that need to be sold and installed too.

I think it would help towards solving the skills and youth crisis that is plaguing all sectors of construction, as well as our own industry. In order to get 250,000 homes a year built, we’ll need the people to do it. Right now, as we all know, we’re struggling to get homes and other large infrastructure built with the skilled people we have right now. I believe that if the Government pressed ahead with boosting building, it would force the hand of home builders and companies working in the various related trades to invest in employing skilled people. It could also help jump-start to push for apprentices to get into construction.

250,000 homes are year aren’t suddenly going to be built from the start of 2017. It’s going to take time. But if we all know it’s coming, the construction sector can start getting to grips with the work ahead by expanding it’s workforce and investing in young skilled people who will rise through the ranks to help build the homes the country needs over the next 5-10 years.

This benefits us all, including the glazing sector. If we don’t see an increase in homes being built, UK glazing won’t see the trickle down effects of extra units having to be fabricated and installed. And it’s not as if the demand isn’t there. There are hundreds of thousands of people who desperately want to get on to the housing ladder. These are people that need homes.

Housing is one very large way in which the UK economy, construction and the glazing sector can receive a boost in the long term. It’s big task ahead, but tackling it now will help a big slice of the population.