The BSA comments on the Redfern Review of Britain’s Housing policy

Commenting on the Redfern Report into Housing issued today, Paul Broadhead, Head of Mortgage Policy at the BSA said:

"As we consistently find through our consumer research, the biggest barrier facing home buyers is their ability to raise a deposit.  The size of that is related to the price of homes; and prices are pushed up by a lack of supply in the face of increasing demand.  Generally the issue is not that home buyers can’t get or can’t afford their mortgage payments, particularly now when rates are at a record low. House price inflation is underpinned, at least in part, by chronic underbuilding and decades of failure by successive Governments to address this undersupply through a coherent housing strategy.
 
"We know the private sector house-builder’s capacity is around 120,000 to 130,000 per year so diversity in housing supply to plug the huge gap between this figure and the 250,000 plus new homes needed each year requires Local Authorities to start to build at volume. We cannot continue to rely on the incumbent large house builders."
 
Press contacts:
Hilary.McVitty@bsa.org.uk, Head of External Affairs