New planning unit to analyse homebuilding plans

A new government-funded unit has been launched with the intention of analysing housing plans in an effort to reduce affordability problems.

The National Housing and Planning Advice Unit (NHPAU) will analyse housebuilding in terms of its resultant effect on price as well as supply and demand with initial research indicating that current plans for new homes are unlikely to help first time buyers.

Current plans to create 190,000 homes a year are not adequate and must be reformed as a matter of urgency, the unit has found, as population increases and societal changes are resulting in around 223,000 new households being created each year.

"This powerful analysis shows how vital it is to build more homes. Sticking to regional assemblies' current proposals for 190,000 homes a year simply won't do enough to help the next generation of first-time buyers," commented housing minister Yvette Cooper.

"The choice is we go on roughly where we are in terms of the long-term trend of housing affordability which is going to get worse. Either that or build more houses," added NHPAU chair Stephen Nickell in an interview with the Financial Times.


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