Buckinghamshire Strategic Housing Market Assessment
The strategic housing market assessment (SHMA) is a study of current and long term trends in the housing market in Buckinghamshire.
The study was commissioned jointly by the 4 local authorities in Buckinghamshire in mid-2007: ourselves, Chiltern, South Bucks and Wycombe district councils. The main aim of the report is not only to inform future housing policy and policy making, but to provide an essential part of the evidence base for the councils’ emerging local development frameworks.
The report uses a range of secondary data sources and provides an assessment of housing need and demand across the district for a full range of tenures. It splits the district into two housing market areas (HMA’s). HMA’s are defined as areas in which a high proportion of home moves and journeys to work are concentrated. Aylesbury Vale is identified as the northern HMA, with a focus towards the north and west. The remaining 3 districts, with a focus towards London, make up a southern HMA.
For housing need, the SHMA relies mainly on the data contained in the latest housing need surveys and on housing register numbers. The report is broader than the housing needs assessments that have been undertaken by each individual district and also looks at social economic trends, and demand pressures. The SHMA also forecasts the need for affordable and market housing and therefore its impact on housing and planning policy. The affordable housing need figure for Aylesbury Vale, taken from the SHMA, is 790 dwellings per annum. Despite the high level of housing growth which will be taking place within the district, it is still unlikely that this level of affordable housing need will be able to be accommodated. For new affordable dwellings, the SHMA recommends that the greatest need is for new 1 and 2 bedroom houses.
The SHMA also includes information on the housing circumstances and needs of particular groups such as elderly people, families and ethnic minorities.
The report and the executive summary can be downloaded by following the links below.
Date Updated: 08/08/08