A total of 53,730 additional affordable homes were supplied in England in 2007-08 – an increase of 21 per cent from 44,570 in 2006-07, and the highest number since 1996-97.
Source: Affordable Housing Supply, England, 2007-08, Statistical release 18 December 2008, Department for Communities and Local Government (020 7944 3000)
Links: Statistical release
Date: 2008-Dec
A report said that the government faced a 1 million shortfall in building new homes. Despite a commitment to build 3 million new homes by 2020, the government had not done enough to tackle the devastating effects of the 'credit crunch' on homebuilding.
Source: Homes for the Future, Shelter (020 7505 4699)
Links: Report | Shelter press release | Telegraph report
Date: 2008-Nov
A report by a committee of MPs said that the government should scrap its house-building target (of 3 million new homes by 2020) and use the market downturn to put the environment at the heart of housing policy.
Source: Greener Homes for the Future? An environmental analysis of the government's housebuilding plans, Twelfth Report (Session 2007-08), HC 566, House of Commons Environmental Audit Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | CPRE press release | Shelter press release | Inside Housing report | Guardian report | BBC report
Date: 2008-Nov
The fair trading watchdog said that there was 'little evidence' of competition problems with the delivery of new homes. On the whole barriers to entering the market appeared low, and prices were set through homebuilders competing for sales. There was no evidence that individual homebuilders had persistent or widespread market power giving them the ability to restrict supply in order to inflate prices.
Source: Homebuilding in the UK: A market study, Office of Fair Trading (0870 606 0321)
Links: Report | OFT press release | Inside Housing report
Date: 2008-Sep
A paper said that the number of households in England would rise by some 785,000 more than the latest official estimate, which used the 2004-based population projection. This suggested that government targets to increase the annual rate of additions to the housing stock to 240,000 per annum by 2016, and to add 3 million additional units by 2020, would fall significantly short of requirements.
Source: Alan Holmans with Christine Whitehead, New and Higher Projections of Future Population in England: A first look at their implications for households and housing, Town and Country Planning Association (020 7930 8903)
Links: Paper | TCPA press release
Date: 2008-Sep
A briefing paper said that lower Scottish Government subsidies and the worsening impact of the 'credit crunch' required imaginative solutions if the needs of people for affordable housing were to be met.
Source: Stacking up Housing Supply, Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland (0131 225 4544)
Links: Briefing | CIH press release
Date: 2008-Jul
The government said that it had accepted a number of the recommendations made in an independent review of housebuilding delivery (published in November 2007).
Source: Letter from Caroline Flint MP (Minister for Housing and Planning), 16 July 2008, Department for Communities and Local Government (0870 1226 236)
Links: Letter | Callcutt report
Date: 2008-Jul
A think-tank report called on the government to deliver on its pledge to build 3 million new homes by 2020 by tailoring new housing to the needs of city economies, based on accurate assessments of local housing markets.
Source: Kenneth Gibb, Tony O'Sullivan and Catherine Glossop, Home Economics: How housing shapes city economies, Centre for Cities (020 7803 4300)
Links: Report | Centre for Cities press release | Liberal Democrats press release
Date: 2008-Jul
The government announced a series of measures designed to help alleviate the effects of the housing market slump and to support the delivery of more homes over the long term. The measures included: a new scheme to support first-time buyers into affordable home-ownership by renting first and buying later; new partnerships between local councils and the private sector, under which councils put surplus land into a 'local housing company' for developments with at least 50 per cent affordable homes; and new proposals to deliver up to 75,000 homes in 20 more towns and cities in areas of high demand.
Source: Facing the Housing Challenge: Action today, innovation for tomorrow, Department for Communities and Local Government (0870 1226 236)
Links: Report | Hansard | DCLG press release | Housing Corporation press release | Shelter press release | CPRE press release | CIH press release | NHF press release | TCPA press release | BPF press release | TUC press release | Liberal Democrats press release | BBC report | Telegraph report | Guardian report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2008-Jul
A trade union report said that the government was right to plan to increase the rate of housebuilding: but with the population increasing and people living in ever smaller units, it questioned whether ministers' target of an extra 3 million homes by 2020 would be enough.
Source: Fair Homes: Building a new deal for housing, Trades Union Congress (020 7467 1294)
Links: Report | TUC press release
Date: 2008-Jun
A report (by an official advisory body) said that 2.96-3.48 million new homes should be built in England by 2026 in order to meet demand and help stabilize house prices.
Source: Meeting the Housing Requirements of an Aspiring and Growing Nation, National Housing and Planning Advice Unit (023 9295 8152)
Links: Report | NHPAU press release | Telegraph report
Date: 2008-Jun
An article described a method of obtaining detailed information about empty dwellings that made use of council tax records. The data source was capable of producing statistical information on vacancy at various geographical scales, and of revealing the nature of empty dwellings at the local level.
Source: Peter Wyatt, 'Empty dwellings: the use of council-tax records in identifying and monitoring vacant private housing in England', Environment and Planning A, Volume 40 Number 5
Links: Abstract
Date: 2008-Apr
Official figures were published on housing supply trends in England since the late 1960s and regional supply since 2000-01. Supply was measured in net additional dwellings. Housing supply reached 199,200 net additional dwellings in 2006-07, an 8 per cent increase on the 2005-06 level. Housing supply had increased steadily from around 130,500 net additions in 2001-02, a rise of 53 per cent over the period.
Source: Net Supply of Housing for England and the Regions up to 2006-07, Statistical press release 20 March 2008, Department for Communities and Local Government (020 7944 3000)
Links: DCLG press release
Date: 2008-Mar
A report by an all-party group of MPS said that the government's target of building 3 million new homes by 2020 would be at risk unless local councils were given extra support by central government – and especially from the newly created Homes and Communities Agency.
Source: Delivering Urban Homes: The role of the public and private sector, All Party Urban Development Group (0207 802 0128)
Links: Report | APUDG press release | Inside Housing report
Date: 2008-Mar