Purpose – There is a growing international interest in the impact of regulatory controls on the supply of housing. The UK has a particularly restrictive planning regime and a detailed and uncertain process of development control linked to it. The purpose of this paper is to present the...

This special issue looks at spatial planning and the new localism, focusing on the recent changes to policy in England following the May 2010 elections when the Coalition government came to power. As Bas Waterhout, Frank Othengrafen and Olivier Sykes note in their contribution, changes in...

English planning again finds itself in a transition from one paradigm-spatial planning-to another-localism. Whilst there is uncertainty and a debate over the significance of these changes and whether they represent a rupture or evolution, we argue in this paper that such change is best...

Purpose – Ageing populations provoke the question of how much bespoke housing should be provided for the elderly. Older people are generally reluctant to move but as they age health circumstances may encourage moves into specialised accommodation. This paper aims to report on an exercise in...

An examination has been made of the performance of a range of medium-size publicly quoted construction firms over the five-year period 1990-1994 including evidence on the competitive nature of construction markets. The results suggest that construction markets are price competitive with mark-ups...

A major justification for urban regeneration partnerships (URPs) is that they provide synergistic benefits for their participants. Some argue that the major beneficiaries will be private-sector agencies. This proposition is examined in the light of evidence from a survey of property-related...

This paper sets out to examine why the modern housebuilding industry is organised in the ways it is and to identify some implications for the wider operation of housing markets. It concentrates on advanced economies and the impacts of market conditions, regulatory constraints, production...

In a recent paper in this journal, Simon Guy and John Henneberry (2000) proposed an institutional approach to property markets that emphasises exceptional behaviour on the part of particular market agents. Using this cultural approach, they claimed to have evidence that London-based property...

Interest has grown again in recent years about the long-term and cyclical nature of building investment and its effect on the macroeconomy. This paper investigates the nature of building trends and cycles from the 19th century to the present day for eight major OECD economies. Focusing...

This paper examines the relationship between investment in built structures, economic growth and economic cycles in the UK from the middle of the 19th century and relates its findings to the development of London. A rising price of built structures relative to investment in equipment has existed...