Research has shown that the government is likely to miss housing targets by 95,000 per year, or one third, at current pace
Research commissioned by the National Housing Federation (NHF) and supported by the Home Builders Federation (HBF) shows that the government can easily miss housing targets by a third.
The research, conducted by Savills, shows that, on average and at current rates, there will be a shortfall of 95,000 homes per year.
More government support is required to hit housing targets
The research finds that building the required number of new homes will still be primarily determined by local demands, meaning that the housing market will be what puts the biggest limit on homes built.
Therefore, high interest rates, house prices, and fewer mortgages for first time buyers are big barriers for not just young people buying homes on the private market, but house building as well.
Furthermore, without more support and funding for social housing, building homes will need to rely on the private market for demand, roughly 200,000 out of the 300,000 per year required to hit the 1.5m target.
Without government support, this will simply not be possible to achieve.
More support for social housing will help
Kate Henderson, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, said: “The findings from this report are clear. An immediate and substantial boost in investment and funding for new affordable homes, particularly those for social rent, is the best way for the government to meet its housing targets and its ambition to build a generation of new social homes.
“Today over 8m people are living in unsuitable, unaffordable homes, or they are homeless. Housing associations are ready to work with the government to end this crisis, but they are under huge financial pressure due to rent caps, increased spending on improving the quality of their existing homes, and building safety costs, which has affected their ability to build. Ahead of the Autumn Budget, we’re calling on the government to rebuild capacity within the social housing sector by providing long term certainty on rent policy, funding for investment in existing homes, and boosting and extending the Affordable Homes Programme.”
Neil Jefferson, chief executive of the Home Builders Federation, said: “Government has rightly outlined its enormous ambition for housing supply and the swiftly announced planning reforms are an essential first step on the road to meeting its bold targets, but the scale of the challenge necessitates continued boldness, working at pace with private and affordable housing developers to stimulate more investment in our communities and build the new homes that are so desperately needed.
“As well as the performance of overarching planning system, housing delivery is greatly influenced by the markets for different forms of housing. With no home ownership support in the market for the first time since the 1960s, it’s never been tougher for first time buyers to make the step into home ownership. Meanwhile, housing associations are lacking the capacity to invest in their own developments or acquire the homes delivered through cross-subsidy by private home builders
“More and more households are dealing with the consequences of the housing crisis so tackling the undersupply of housing in this country cannot wait a moment longer.”
