The nation’s media and financial commentators are all in a flurry following the dramatic tumbles that China’s stock market took over the past couple of weeks.
Speculation is rife about how this will affect UK industry. For the pessimists, possibly the least comfortable assertion I have seen is that China has the world’s most volatile stock market outside Greece.
No-one yet knows how events in China will play out, nor what the longer-term implications will be for the UK. But they have reignited the competition to call the top of the market – a debate on which I have seen a range of views since joining the BPF at the start of the year.
My colleagues at the BPF will be keeping a careful eye on the Shanghai Composite and watching reactions. In the meantime, we are days away from parliament’s return from recess.
MPs will return to the House with guns blazing. Real estate, in all its guises, is high on this government’s agenda and we are ready to engage with decision makers on every level.
Party conferences will soon be upon us, offering the BPF the opportunity to engage with councillors and MPs from across the country, and this year, of course, with a new Labour leader.
We expect to see both the Housing Bill and Immigration Bill enter parliament by the end of October, both of which will be important to real estate.
Bills provide both opportunities and pitfalls, and with the government’s Commons majority wafer thin, the humble backbencher will have a greater chance of slotting his or her own particular hobby horse into bills, or obstructing the government. That’s not to mention the lack of a government majority in the House of Lords.
As the Housing Bill progresses, it will be interesting to see the level of opposition to the extension of Right to Buy, and exactly how starter homes will be rolled out across the country. We will keep reiterating to government how important it is that housing policies satisfy supply requirements, rather than demand, and ensure the merits of build-to-rent are not lost.
The summer news has been dominated by immigration, and we need to ensure that public and political discourse does not confuse illegal immigration and the scenes at Calais with the important contribution that legal migrants make to our industry – from construction workers on our developments to high-net-worth individuals seeking to invest and set up here.
On planning, we are likely to soon be given more detail on the policies laid out in the productivity plan. We could see the extension of office-to-residential permitted development rights. The chancellor’s Spending Review on 25 November could also have implications for the planning system if we see cash-strapped local authority planning departments undergo further cuts.
The next few weeks are set to be busy, but the fact that there are so many opportunities for us to engage with government is only to be welcomed. Wider economic forces may be outside our control, but we are working to ensure that our industry is in as robust shape as possible.
Melanie Leech is chief executive at the British Property Federation
