Success and Failure in Housing Provision - Essay Example

Housing Research Brief Introduction 1 In the practical operation of housing policy, housing market areas are critical concepts. Research is a vital part of housing policy making at national, regional and local levels. In recent years, there has been considerable discussion in England, Scotland and Wales on assessing local housing requirements and undertaking housing market studies. 1.2 Increasingly, there is a consensus that organisations should make more use of the latter as agencies are often regarded as being 'data rich but information poor'. Planning guidance states that housing land requirements should be met within market areas and development plan policies relating to provision of affordable housing have to be justified on the basis of evidence of unmet need within market areas. 1.3 One important aspect of these debates is the balance between the use of primary and secondary data. 1.4 This report includes the definition of Housing Market Areas which is an integral element in Local Housing Strategies. The assessment of local housing requirements is included and presents secondary data that will provide useful information on the housing requirements. 1.5 Secondary data is said to be an existing primary data that was collected by someone else and is used by the study to support its claim. It is required by the communities Scotland to take a top level strategic view and seeks to identify market areas for the purpose of strategic analysis. 1.6 This report includes housing market analysis and the assessment of local housing requirements for a sub-regional partnership comprising a small group of local authorities, their housing association partners, voluntary sector agencies and house builders within Glasgow, Scotland. 1.7 The average price of a home in Glasgow in 2005 was around 125,000. However, the variation across the city means that some areas are much more affordable than others. If you are unsure, it may be worth seeking the advice of a solicitor or estate agent to identify the areas best for you, given your budget and travel needs. (Glasgow Housing Market, 2006). 1.8 The overall aim of the study is to: Define housing market studies and local housing requirements. To provide information using secondary data. To identify how the study will improve policy making and aid investment decisions over the next decade. 2. Key Findings 2.1 There is market when there is a seller and a buyer. When someone is interested in something that you sell market exist. Housing Market is just the same market that we know. It involves the seller which is the owner and the interested party or the buyer. 2.2 Housing market studies involves the assessment of the location or the area. There are many who want to own a house but it must be accessible to the important establishments such as hospital, church, work and schools. 2.3 In Glasgow a Housing Research Group draws together researchers from a variety of disciplines with a common interest in housing and its connections with neighbourhoods, social policy, labour markets, the environment and the economy. 2.4 The research focus on houses prices and affordability issues, mortgage markets, land-use planning, commercial property, social housing and area effects. 2.5 The research group is operating in three core themes: Housing markets and affordability, Land-use Planning, Brownfields and Housing Supply, and Social Housing and Area Effects. 2.6 The local housing market has a significant effect upon the type of housing to be expected on each individual site opportunity, and therefore upon the dwelling yields. 3. Definition of Terms 3.1 Housing Market Studies is a comprehensive study of a specific proposal including a review of the housing market in a defined market area. Project specific market studies are often used by developers, syndicators, and government entities to determine the appropriateness of a proposed development, whereas market specific market studies are used to determine what housing needs, if any, exist within a specific geography. (NCAHMA, 2008). 3.2 The definition of a market area sets the context and tone of the entire market study. While a somewhat subjective judgment, a market area's size and density has a profound impact on an analysis in terms of understanding demographic trends, demand estimates and the competitive environment. (Prior, 2005). 3.3 Housing Market Areas is defined in Scotland depending on transaction data, survey data or combination of both. 3.4 Scotland has a database on housing transactions that includes data on the location of the property on sale the geographic data and others which can be access in the Scotland land registry and the Communities Scotland website. In the website the Housing (Scotland ) Act 2001 stated "it requires local authorities to undertake a comprehensive assessment of housing needs and conditions, and to produce strategies to tackle the housing problems in the area." 3.5 Using data in analyzing the property is an approach with clarity and simplicity. The data is accessible using the Communities Scotland and other website that lead you directly to what you need in housing market areas. 3.6 To ensure that market area is accurate the following factors should be considered: (Prior, 2005). - Location of Competitive Properties - Commuting Patterns - Accessibility - Target Market - Natural Boundaries - Jurisdictional Boundaries - Housing Product Characteristics - Local Agency Service Boundaries - Market Perceptions - Non-geographic Factors 4. Assessment of local housing requirements 4.1 The Communities of Scotland and the Scottish Executive commissioned a research to assist local authorities to identify their resource requirements in relation to their responsibility to produce Local Housing Strategies (LHS), as stated in Housing (Scotland) Act 2001. 4.2 The research focuses on the secondary data that is needed to produce a good quality LHS. The findings will help in updating LHS guidance and the development of training to increase the capacity of local authorities to have LHS. 5. Secondary and Primary Data 5.1 Primary data is facts and information collected specifically for the purpose of the investigation at hand. 5.2 Secondary data is facts and information gathered not for the immediate study at hand but for some other purpose. (Churchill, 1983). 5.3 Secondary data is available from the original source, which collects and organizes the data, and from sources that simply summarize data collected by others and market the information. (Rabianski, 2003). 5.4 An example is when data is taken directly from the census publications, all the information is provided about data collection techniques and statistical methodologies used possible inaccuracies, and other valuable background inputs. However a researcher may find it more convenient to use summarized versions of the population data presented in the Statistical Abstract of Scotland, which does not collect and organize, but simply distributes the secondary data. 5.5 Organizations that perform the task of summarizing and distributing data are referred to as secondary sources of secondary data. The analyst should be aware of the advantages and disadvantages of using original sources of secondary data and of obtaining data that has been summarized by others. 5.6 Secondary data may expose the analysis to a variety of possible errors and bias. The researcher may not be able to remove or overcome some of the errors, but knowledge of their existence will help in drawing informed conclusions and establishing some level of confidence in the judgments that result. 5.7 Researchers may find way to reduce error in the investigation. Below are categories for potential error that can reduce accuracy in secondary data: (Rabianski, 2003). 1. Sampling and non-sampling errors 2. Errors that does not validate the data 3. Errors that require reformulation of data 4. Errors that reduce reliability 5.8 Primary data and secondary data should be accurate, reliable, precise, unbiased, valid, appropriate, and timely. (Rabianski, 2003). - Accuracy. The accuracy of the data should be checked. The researcher usually collects primary data from a sample and in specifying and selecting the sample; the researcher should be very particular to show the nature of the true population accurately. This same principle underlies the use of secondary data; it must accurately reflect what is being a study. - Reliability. This refers to reproducibility or replication of estimates. If the researchers got the same measures several time, then the data is reliable. If the researchers uses two or more techniques to measure the same value (e.g., population), and the estimates are close together, the estimates can be considered reliable. The reliability of the sales comparison approach would be enhanced if the appraiser drew two sets or groups of comparable properties, made the necessary adjustments, and obtained approximately the same value indication. - Bias. Bias is the deviation of a statistical estimate from the true parameter the statistical procedure is designed to estimate. It is systematic error introduced into an analysis by the failure to follow proper procedure or by other errors in the database. 5.9 The household income is considered as a secondary data, which distribute the population characteristics. For example, the category for top income would be $75,000 and up, and then a decade later, the top income category might be $100,000 and up. From this category the researcher can assemble another category which can be used as a secondary data supported by the primary data. 5.10 Primary data can be secondary data when : - Property sales in the form of deeds are recorded in the Scotland Registry Deed to provide constructive notice of ownership, this is a primary data . If a sale price extrapolated from transfer tax stamps is used for a comparable property, it is secondary data. - The information about the attributes or characteristics of a property that a listing agent places on a listing form to describe the property is primary data. When the appraiser uses that same data from a multiple listing service (MLS) database to select a comparable property; the data becomes secondary data. - When the appraiser inspects the subject property, measuring its size; describing its shape, topography, structural components, and characteristics; and inspecting its interior design and condition, primary data is being gathered. When that same data is placed into a database, it becomes someone else's secondary data. - When the appraiser inspects a prospective comparable property and specifies its attributes, characteristics, and condition, it is primary data. When this information is used in a subsequent report for another subject property, the result is secondary data. 6. Secondary data for Housing Market Analysis in Glasgow. - Census Reports - Yearbooks - Survey Reports - Official Records or reported experimental findings 7. Census reports in Scotland will provide information on the number of housing necessity in Scotland. This can help in making the policy in housing by taking into consideration the number of people in a certain location. 8. Online the Census reports are available and it can be easily accessible to others who are in need of the data. It can be accessed in http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/ 9. Several yearbooks in Scotland can help the policy maker in making the policy for housing. Yearbooks such as reports on legal cases concerning housing can be used to assess the policy on review. 10. Survey reports in housing can be accessed in the Scottish House Condition Survey. This is the largest single housing research project in Scotland, and the only national survey to look at the physical condition of Scotland's homes as well as the experiences of householders. 11. Official Records or reported experimental findings. Other studies and researches done to help the policy maker in deciding what to include in the policy. 12. Local Partners. The research is completed with the help of Communities Scotland and the local communities who provide information and data needed. The Registry office and the NSO have helped a lot in providing the numbers. 13. The impact of Policy - The differences in the popularity of different types of housing, and the neighbourhoods are very evident. The social housing stock has been diminished because of the changes in the composition of the stock driven by the process of right to buy and by policies which is important in the development of the alternatives to have a low cost home ownership. - The policy greatly affects the ownership of the property. Transaction not under the policy maybe considered void or not official. Further analysis should do to evaluate the policy. - Housing policy is usually analysed in economic terms, as a form of market. In theory, markets lead to efficient allocation through a complex process of matching supply and demand. This depends on competition (to bring prices down); good information; the existence of multiple suppliers; and the existence of multiple purchasers. In housing, this theory has limited application. ( Barlow, Duncan, 1994). - Implementation of policy is an essential process whatever the approach taken to managing the release of sites. Its purpose is to ensure that housing requirements are being met in line with the sequential approach, and if not, what action needs to be put in place to rectify the situation. 14. Conclusion 14.1 The housing policy in Scotland focuses on the following factors: homelessness, Social Housing, Home ownership and private renting, Housing conditions, benefits money, and debt, people and communities and community opposition project. 14.2 Recent years have seen unprecedented changes in homelessness legislation in Scotland, which are now being implemented into practice. 14.3 The most important change is that all unintentionally homeless people in Scotland will have the right to a permanent home by 2012. 14.4 Councils are still the largest providers of social housing in Scotland, although RSL stock now represent over 40 per cent of public sector housing. 14.5 Home ownership and private renting - Over the past 20 years, the private sector has overtaken social housing as the dominant provider of housing in Scotland. This is mainly due to Scotland having the fastest rate of growth in home ownership in Western Europe, fuelled by sales of council housing through the Right to Buy. 14.6 Housing market studies can be supported by secondary data. Proper identification of the data used is important to evaluate whether primary data is needed to support the secondary data or vice versa. There are several ways to support the study in housing using the secondary data. Reference: http://www.odpm.gov.uk/index.aspid=1140535 and http://www.odpm.gov.uk/index.aspid=1140537 ODPM (2005): Housing Market Assessments - Draft Practice Guidance: London, ODPM - see http://www.odpm.gov.uk/index.aspid=1162418 DETR (2000): Local Housing Needs Assessment - A Guide to Good Practice: London, DETR - see http://www.odpm.gov.uk/index.aspid=1155803 Prior,J. (2003) Real Property Research Group, Woodstock, GA. http://www.housingonline.com/Default.aspxtabid=239 Gilbert A. Churchill, Marketing Research: Methodological Foundations, 3rd ed., (Chicago: The Dryden Press, 1983), 740-741. http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/article/96694281_5.html J Barlow, S Duncan, 1994, Success and failure in housing provision, Pergamon Read More