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
One year in: the government is making decent down payments for the years ahead
It’s fair to say it hasn’t been a straightforward first year for the government.Britons back local leaders with fiscal firepower
“Death and taxes,” they say, are life’s only certainties. But there’s a third - wherever taxes are controlled, power lies.Filling the funding gap: at what cost to Scotland’s public services?
Last week the Scottish government published its delayed Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) which ‘provides the economic, funding and spending outlooks for the financial years 2025/26 to 2029/30’ and ‘the Government’s fiscal strategy to…