Affordable housing data

With house prices being as high as they are - I'm a firm believer in the need for more affordable housing. We meet numerous clients who desperately want to buy to move away from the rental trap, but affordability is a huge stumbling block for them. More affordable housing would open up the opportunity of home ownership to many more people. The majority of affordable housing we have seen this past year has been shared ownership, and whilst this can be a fantastic option for some - we have noticed that a large percentage of these are newbuilds, which generally come with higher service charges and a higher rent element. With the first homes scheme being launched it would be great to see this elevated and become available nationwide - as I do believe the UK is crying out for more support for those buyers that aren't high earners.

This data shows how far away we are from building enough affordable homes and how significant the affordable housing crisis is. A National Housing Federation (NHF) study in 2019 estimated that 145,000 affordable homes are required per year in England, and this data indicates we are only achieving 40% of that requirement. In short, we are nowhere near building enough affordable homes. One million households are on the housing waiting list according to Shelter. Achieving 40% of the annual target means that backlog will just keep increasing and the problem is getting worse. While the level of new affordable homes being provided under S106 agreements is reducing, 44% affordable provision from those agreements highlights the continued reliance on private house builders. If private house builders slow down construction due to the current market and economic environment, it's going to have a direct impact on affordable housing provision, arguably at a time when it's needed the most.

It's very difficult to extrapolate too much insight from this data compared to the previous years because of the Covid pandemic. But the trend remains clear, we're not building nearly enough housing. Just under 60,000 'affordable' homes were built, which is pitiful when you consider the population is increasing by hundreds of thousands each year, and single person households have increased by a fifth over the past two decades. Here's a radical thought. How about we make all housing affordable? How about we don't let house prices increase to almost 8 x earnings (11 in London) due to cheap borrowing and loose monetary policy. How about we tie house price growth to the 2% inflation target, and how about we actually start building energy-efficient, quality housing at scale. Or are we going to just put up with the 'it's supply and demand innit' argument forever, whilst the young, and not so young see their future prospects ruined by greed and stupidity.