Research on the changing nature of the housing market in LS6

Research is imminent to help give all involved in the local housing market a better understanding of the changing circumstances and to generate ideas about positive ways forward.

All the main actors are coming together to specify and support the research: the HMO Lobby, the local agents and property owners, the two universities and the students’ unions, Unipol, the City Council NW Area Team and re’new, the Civic Trust and other partners in the Shared Housing Group, including the Police.

The stimulus for the research is the recognition that both demand and supply are changing in and around the area:

• Student numbers are now no longer rising at the high rate that characterised the period 1999-2005.

• An Area of Housing Mix has been marked out, reducing the chances of planning permission being granted for conversions of property for student accommodation.

• Since April 2006, a licence must be granted for all HMOs that comprise 3 or more storeys and are occupied by 5 or more occupiers in 2 or more households.

• New options have become available for students with the construction of commercial developments of ‘cluster flats’ outside the Area of Housing Mix.

• There is growing evidence of an increase in demand from young professionals and young ‘starter households’ for self-contained flats and shared houses in the Headingley area.

So we are setting out to discover how these various forces are playing out on the ground:

The aims of the research are:

• to gain a clear understanding of current state of supply and demand in Headingley and the adjacent areas

° to identify the nature and extent of the student housing market in Headingley;
° to map the micro-geography of the student housing market and understand directions of
   change in the mosaic of sub-areas;
° to map where students are choosing to live;
° to establish how successful the cluster flat developments have been so far  in drawing
   students away from the area of greatest concentration of student housing;
° to establish which sub-areas and which kinds of properties have seen a fall off in demand;
° to establish demand from young professionals for housing in Headingley and in particular to
   establish whether some of these households have moved from the City Centre;
° to establish what is happening to rental levels for shared housing across the area.

• to trace the impact of HMO licensing as it takes effect
   

• to develop ideas for managing the future of the market and to improve the quality and future prosperity of this part of Leeds: what could be done to turn around areas that are again going through transition and work towards a more balanced housing market and demographic profile once more?
   

• to establish potential initiatives for bringing ex-shared housing for sale back into use as affordable housing (discounted sale/shared equity, sub-market rent, social rent)
   

• to make practical suggestions to the City Council, the Universities, the property owners and agents and other stakeholders about how student housing needs can be met in ways that are more compatible with the needs of longer term residents.

The research will be carried out in a series of stages. Work will soon start on gathering data from a variety of sources. You will be kept informed of progress.

For further information on the research, contact Dr Rachael Unsworth, School of Geography, University of Leeds, at r.unsworth@leeds.ac.uk