Strategic housing market assessment

What is a Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA)?

In order to respond to the needs of local communities and to help the Council to deliver its strategic housing function, it is important to have a sound understanding of local housing needs, local housing markets and how they interact with other local areas.

The Council has a duty to undertake some form of local housing needs survey every five years. This information informs a wide range of housing policies and development of documents such as the Housing Strategy Statement. It also informs investment programmes such as the Housing Market Renewal Initiative, all of which support the delivery of Wirral’s local strategic priorities and objectives for transforming local housing markets.

2007 Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA)

In September 2007 Fordham Research completed a comprehensive borough Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA) on behalf of Wirral Council. The SHMA covered all tenures of housing and identified local housing needs and affordability issues for the whole of the Borough. The detailed findings of the SHMA are contained within a full report. An executive summary is available; however the SHMA highlighted a number of key findings which are detailed below:

• Most significantly affordability is a key issue across the Borough.This, along with changes in recent years in the type and size of households, means Wirral will continue to require an increase in housing supply over the coming years to meet local needs and aspirations.

• Linked to this, first time buyers who would usually look to purchase properties at the lower end of the market are being priced out and are restricted in accessing home ownership with only a quarter of first time buyers able to buy a home.

• There is a significant annual need of 528 affordable housing dwellings required each year.

• The majority of demand identified is for two bed and four bed accommodation in all tenures across the borough with no requirement for one bed housing.

At Cabinet on 7th February 2008, Wirral Council Members endorsed the findings arising from the SHMA and agreed their contribution towards a material consideration in negotiating with local developers. These findings included a requirement that 40% of all new housing developments of 15 dwellings or more within the Borough should be affordable with a ratio of 30% social rented and 10% intermediate housing.

The SHMA is now used as material consideration in negotiations with developers to achieve affordable housing contributions through S106 ‘Affordable Housing’ Agreements when individual planning applications are made. It is also used by the Housing Strategy Team to commission the delivery of additional affordable housing schemes in the Borough and to justify the need to secure findings to implement schemes locally.