Embargo for publication until 00.01hrs Thursday 30 March 2006
New JRF study shatters perception that mixed tenure reduces property values or marketability
Assumptions are incorrect that mixed tenure housing developments decrease property prices or make homes harder to sell, according to new Joseph Rowntree Foundation research.
More than tenure mix: Developer and purchaser attitudes to new housing estates analysed comparable local property values with those from mixed tenure estates, also capturing the experiences of residents from mixed communities and developers active in the field. This research found that ensuring the quality of other aspects of a development could eliminate the risk of adverse impact on home marketability or prices.
The mixed income communities studied were overwhelmingly judged successful. They were not characterised by the problems often linked with exclusively low-income areas. The schemes generally met the expectations of developers, residents and housing managers and had become pleasant places to live, learn and work. Nine out of ten home-owners were satisfied with their mixed tenure areas and 77% had a positive view of having householders with different incomes around them or felt it made no difference.
Misconceptions about the impact of mixed tenure on housing sales have been suggested at a time when policy makers are encouraging new housing developments which mix affordable rented housing with market priced properties.
The report features in a new JRF Foundations publication, Mixed Communities: Success and sustainability by Chris Holmes. This draws together evidence-based conclusions to inform future policies around mixed communities from seven detailed research reports encompassing 25 mixed neighbourhood case studies.
Policy on mixed communities has traditionally focused on the mix of housing tenure but this research revealed that home type or size, along with household type and income are equally or more important. Tenure and income were found to be "non-issues” to residents – they saw their neighbours as "ordinary people”. Whilst residents may not have generally developed personal friendships across tenures, they described their relationships as "civil” and "polite”. Mixed communities also helped to counteract potential prejudice often faced by tenants and offered an opportunity to break out of the spiral associated with concentrated disadvantage that some had experienced elsewhere. Mixed communities with housing design similarities across owner-occupied and rented housing blurred tenure distinctions and emphasised similarities rather than differences between residents.
Bucking the trend for families with housing choice to disappear from inner city urban areas, mixed income communities were found to be able to attract young families, helped by the availability of good schools and appropriate housing design. However, some mixed developments lacked larger sized homes in their private sector provision.
In some of the areas studied, there was evidence of concern prompted by the purchase of homes for private renting. This reduction in numbers of home-owners had not been foreseen and presented additional challenges in ensuring that communities were seamlessly managed and sustained.
"Mixed communities are not a panacea for all problems, but they can be attractive and popular places for a full range of households to live. Although their delivery requires careful thought, design and management, the research indicates that many potential problems can be overcome if they are given the required attention,” said Chris Holmes.
"For society as a whole there are strong benefits from promoting mixed income communities that include rather than separate and segregate. The research studies show that mixed communities are a tested way of delivering high quality, popular neighbourhoods,” said JRF Director, Lord Richard Best.
Notes to Editors:
More than tenure mix: Developer and purchaser attitudes to new housing estates by Rob Rowlands, Alan Murie and Andrew Tice, is published for the Foundation by the Chartered Institute of Housing and is available from Chartered Institute of Housing, Octavia House, Westwood Way, Coventry CV4 8JP (Tel: 024 7685 1752/64) price £15.95 plus £1.50 p&p.
In 1998, the Social Exclusion Unit estimated that there were over a million households living in neighbourhoods of concentrated disadvantage. Significant and persistent inequalities between areas at ward and neighbourhood level in patterns of employment, income and, most sharply, housing tenure continue across the UK.
For a forthcoming strand of this research, University of Westminster researchers are developing a best practice guide on setting up mixed communities.
- Mixed Communities: Success and sustainability by Chris Holmes is available in the JRF Foundations series.
- Read the Findings summary
- Order a printed report from our Bookshop
- Download the report free of charge (PDF, 850KB)
For further information, please contact:
Rob Rowlands (author): 0121 414 2243
Chris Holmes (author): 01442 822366
Issued by Nasreen Memon, JRF Head of Media Relations, 020 7837 278 9665 | nasreen.memon@jrf.org.uk
