According to this report (2023) from the Centre for Cities, the UK has a backlog of about 4.3 million homes. This is in comparison to other Western European countries for the period from 1955 to 2015.

Said differently, these 4.3 million homes are effectively missing from the UK’s national housing market because it failed to build and deliver at the same rate as some other rich countries.

The report also argues that this housing shortage started not at the end of the post-war period, but at the beginning of it in the 1940s.

So what do they propose? The following:

Increase housing supply where new homes are needed. More homes are built in Wakefield than Oxford. Building in places with fewer jobs won’t fix prosperous cities’ housing crises.

Planning reform to introduce a new flexible zoning system that would allow builders to build if they follow the rules, while maintaining special protections for National Parks, Conservation Areas etc.

Zoning of land in walkable distances around train stations in the green belt for suburban living and with protected green space, which would provide 1.8 to 2.1 million homes.

Increase the use of permitted development rights to cut the red tape that makes it hard to build upward extensions or infill developments.

Stop subsidising home ownership. Despite Right to Buy, home ownership as a share of private housing has fallen in every city since 1981. The Government should stop subsidising ownership, tax housing wealth increases by abolishing the Capital Gains Tax exemption for primary residences and treat owning and renting equally.

None of these proposed solutions should come as a surprise. We know that housing follows money/jobs. And we know that if we want more of it, we need to remove the barriers to building it, especially around higher-order transit.

Image: Bloomberg