Faraz Baber

Labour has staked much of its economic strategy on housing. The government’s promise to deliver 1.5 million homes by 2029 is intended to improve affordability, boost construction productivity and stimulate growth. But analysis from planning consultancy Lanpro based on government figures shows that despite a flurry of policy announcements, delivery is 10 per cent down on the ten-year average, and well below the 300,000 per year widely accepted as the minimum needed to reach Labour’s pledge. At current rates, only half of that figure is set to be met.

The publication of the New Towns Taskforce report – and with it, the first list of potential locations for new towns – is important. It signals that government recognises the scale of the housing crisis and the need for bold, strategic intervention. It also hints at a wider economic ambition, with new towns positioned not just to provide homes but to drive growth. 

The scale of the asylum housing crisis is stark. According to Reuters, more than 32,000 people were being housed in hotels at the end of June – an 8 per cent increase on the previous year. The number of asylum claims, at 111,000 in the year to June, is higher than at any point in the past two decades.

The temporary High Court injunction blocking asylum seekers from being housed in The Bell Hotel in Epping has received wide-ranging headlines, many of which have referenced a need to change planning policy. But what will be the impact of any solution on the property market more generally?