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Radical plans to boost housebuilding

Some 20 years on from Dame Kate Barker's influential report, housebuilding remains stuck and far off targets needed to control house price inflation
April 23, 2024
  • Goal of 300,000 new homes a year further away than ever, says Barker
  • The original report made 36 recommendations, only 11 have been fully implemented

Amid all the evidence of a housing crisis, the UK is only getting further from catching up: the value of new housing projects moving on site in the first quarter was 28 per cent lower than the same period last year, dragged down by a lack of new starts, according to data provider Glenigan.

Private housing projects fell by around a quarter, and social housing starts were down 40 per cent. The prior-year period was also weak, with starts down in value by 12 per cent on the first quarter of 2022.

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