How Greater Manchester is rewiring housing delivery

In June, Andy Burnham announced he wanted to see “good growth in every postcode”. It’s a phrase that has become synonymous with Greater Manchester’s approach to development, where success is measured not only by the number of homes or jobs created, but by the wider economic and social benefits investment can generate, writes Iain Jenkinson.

Good growth, however, is more than a political catchphrase. Greater Manchester’s Good Growth Fund, has become an important tool for unlocking development, supporting housing delivery and attracting private investment into projects that might otherwise struggle to get off the ground.

Its success in turning consented schemes into deliverable projects is particularly relevant at a time when much of the national housing debate remains heavily and overly focused on planning reform. Yes, a faster, more predictable planning system is important, but it is only part of the answer. The bigger challenge facing many residential developments is viability.

Developers continue to grapple with elevated construction costs, higher borrowing rates and squeezed margins. Across the country, schemes with planning consent remain stalled because they no longer stack up financially. Additional measures such as the proposed Your First Home Scheme may help address affordability and support first-time buyers, but they do not resolve the barriers preventing many developments from moving forward.

The challenge increasingly lies in creating the conditions that allows ‘the State’ to become more interventionist in providing the flexible capital investment into projects, permissible under the Subsidy Act 2022, that crowds-in private capital. The Greater Manchester Good Growth Fund is doing several ‘good things’ and will deliver long-term economic, social and environmental benefits but at its core, it is helping unlock unviable projects. It is the first in the country to do so and is providing a model for others.

The results speak for themselves, direct investment through the Good Growth Fund has the potential to support the building of more than 4,600 homes. While the latest allocations announced in September could help unlock a further 789 homes across Greater Manchester.

While Greater Manchester may be the precedent, the model is already attracting attention elsewhere. Our national report, Accelerating Housing Supply through Risk Capital Approaches, co-authored with Mandala Partners,  suggests that, if rolled out more widely, this approach could help unlock up to 200,000 additional homes and support more than 70,000 jobs across England by 2031.

Elsewhere, Greater London’s City Hall Developer Fund has been launched this year aiming to follow a similar approach. In the West Midlands, Mayor Richard Parker has expanded the West Midlands Future Fund, opening it to private sector investment and backing projects designed to unlock major development sites, support growing industries and attract additional private capital into the regional economy.

CBRE is working with Glasgow City Council to develop the business case for a potential growth fund for central Glasgow and has advised Liverpool City Region and West of England on their respective vehicles.

Every market faces its own challenges, but one issue is becoming increasingly clear. If we want to accelerate housing delivery, viability must be the first part of the conversation. Greater Manchester has shown what can be achieved when public and private capital are aligned to unlock investment, bring forward stalled schemes and support long-term growth.

Iain Jenkinson is head of UK public-private capital at CBRE.

This is the latest part in our series on rewiring the housing system in England, in partnership with CivicScape.

MORE IN THIS SERIES

Jeremy Hinds: Sixty housing interventions. Why is England still unaffordable?

Mike Palin: Take housing out of Whitehall’s hands into Mayors’

Sam Stafford: Aim and you might hit. Targets crucial to solving housing crisis

Tim Heatley: Buy houses. Hold them. Govt should keep it simple