Measures to help housing market

House buying and building have suffered in recent months

More flexibility towards planning applications and contributions from developers are among measures a council hopes will help the housing market.

Highland Council also said it would bring forward affordable housing projects and that �6m in funding was available to help development.

The measures followed a summit held in an attempt to halt a slump in property development in the region.

Hosted by the council it involved delegates from the housing sector.

The local authority said the �6m was immediately available from its land bank fund.

It also said it would promote a shared equity model which allowed house buyers to enter the market at an initial low level of investment and deposit.

The Highlands had been a boom area for building and property prices.

In February, the local authority reported that the building of new homes in the Highlands reached an all time high in 2007.

However, the number of new-start properties in Inverness alone have fallen from 400 last year to 70 in 2008.

Reporting on the state of the housing market in February, Highland Council said 1,807 new homes were completed in 2007 - a 7% increase on the 2006 figure of 1,688.

HOUSING SLUMP

Highland Solicitors Property Centre reported at the start of October what was believed to be a record number of properties available for sale in the Highlands.

The Confederation of Forest Industries (ConFor) said it hoped the fall in the value of the pound and companies' close proximity to customers would make home-grown timber more competitive.

Albyn Housing Society intends to build 180 low-cost homes in the Highlands over the next two years.

It said that major housing completions - schemes with five or more homes - accounted for 63% of developments.

The remainder of completions comprised smaller scale developments, which the authority said were a vital element of the housing supply.

Inverness South Ward saw the highest number of houses being built in any one council ward with 489 house completions concentrated at Culduthel Mains Farm/Slackbuie, Wester Inshes, Milton of Leys and Woodside of Culloden.

The statistics came as consultants said an influx of people drawn to the region looking for a new lifestyle would halt any fall in prices.

Earlier this month, a housing association boss said the need for affordable properties was "greater than ever".

Albyn Housing Society chief executive Calum Macaulay said: Mr Macaulay added: "In the short-term at least Albyn intends to maintain its contribution to meeting these needs across the Highlands and work with Highland Council to meet its target of 500 new affordable homes a year."

Meanwhile, the Confederation of Forest Industries (ConFor) said the timber trade hoped to ride out the economic downturn though some redundancies have been made within the industry.

A large proportion of timber processed in the UK is used for house building.

ConFor said the fall in the value of the pound made home-grown timber more competitive against imports, while reduced fuel costs was also helpful.