John Stewart is Director of Economic Affairs at the Home Builders Federation (HBF).
His policy responsibilities include the economy, the housing and mortgage markets, mortgage regulation, NewBuy, demographic trends, housing supply, Affordable Housing, new home valuation, the private rented sector, customer satisfaction and the industry's Consumer Code, the Cumulative Impact of Regulation on viability and supply and Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) initiatives (FirstBuy, Get Britain Building, public land disposal). He maintains close contact with a wide range of housing experts, including officials at the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG), the HCA, HM Treasury and the Bank of England.
Before joining HBF in 2003 he was an independent housing consultant for over ten years, and previously divisional Sales & Marketing Director for house builder Wates. His publications included a monthly Viewpoint column in Housebuilder and Building a Crisis (2002) which highlighted the growing housing supply crisis in England and began to consider its social and economic consequences.
He has an MA in English from Auckland University and an MSc in Economics from Birkbeck College, London.
Lyons proposes new delivery model
The Lyons Housing Review concludes that the public sector must have a significantly expanded role if we are to solve our housing supply crisis. John Stewart has his doubts, but also finds much to support in the review
The industry can deliver, given the right conditions
The home building industry could build large numbers of new homes, given the right conditions. But this will require reversing the drift of much public sector thinking over the past two decades, argues John Stewart
Wishful thinking dominates supply debate
Much of the debate about our housing supply crisis uses mental gymnastics to avoid facing up to messy reality, argues John Stewart
Tighter policies will hit housing market
Monetary and financial policies are set to tighten conditions in the mortgage and housing markets. John Stewart examines the outlook
No place for local dwelling performance standards
There is no justification for special dwelling performance standards at the local authority level. John Stewart argues that ministerial acceptance of local standards for water, access, space and possibly security will increase the regulatory burden and damage housing output
Planning reforms key to plan-led delivery
The plan-led system has restricted land and housing supply and significantly altered the shape of the industry, argues John Stewart. The new government in May 2015 must build on the coalition’s planning reforms if home building is to recover
Home building Budget boost
The 2014 Budget should provide a sizeable boost to home building and help the industry rebuild capacity, argues John Stewart, making Labour's 200,000 new homes target for 2020 even more achievable
200,000 new homes in 2020 a realistic possibility
Lifting home building to 200,000 in 2020 looks a realistic possibility, argues John Stewart, given a fair economic wind over the next seven years
New tools to control housing market
The Bank of England has identified a new set of tools to decouple control of the housing market from control of the economy, allowing interest rates to remain low but avoiding overheating in the housing market. John Stewart looks at what this might mean for the housebuilding industry
To 2016 and beyond
As government measures to support housing demand are withdrawn and interest rates begin to rise, the postelection government will have to decide whether to extend Help to Buy equity loan to maintain home building says John Stewart
