Think small, build big: Lessons from SME housebuilding in Germany

Article

There has been a catastrophic decline in the size of England’s SME housebuilding sector. This is not the case in Germany, where the SME sector dominates the housebuilding market.

We diagnose a ‘toxic triangle’ of problems facing English SME builders, with mutually reinforcing problems stemming from the planning system, the land market, and insufficient access to finance.

Drawing on experience from Germany, we recommend to government a seven-point plan to give England the greatest prospect of revitalising its SME building sector, thus making a substantially greater contribution to housing output.

Related items

  1. Door, leaving or back with parent and child in home together for goodbye or start of morning. Entrance, family or holding hands with person and kid in apartment for travel to school or business

    Work isn't working: Family, work and progression on a low income

    Most children in poverty in the UK are in working households, a phenomenon that has emerged since the early 2000s.
  2. A row of international flags flying in the breeze outside a building in Paris on a sunny day

    The government is about to host a ‘Global Partnership Conference’ – should it even bother?

    Tomorrow, the government is hosting the Global Partnership Conference in East London.
  3. A row of international flags flying in the breeze outside a building in Paris on a sunny day

    Diversifying diplomacy: UK strategy in a fragmenting world

    How the UK might build more durable international partnerships in energy, defence and technology.