For the past 25 years there has been a 10 to 1 ratio between overall market transactions and private housing delivery, which appears to have held firm despite recent policy interventions.

Housing delivery is inexorably tied to market demand at a price point dictated by underlying costs, including materials, labour and land. The Mortgage Market Review will also continue to restrict the availability of mortgage debt and, in turn, the market’s ability to return to pre-crunch levels of turnover.

As a result, it is necessary to look to other models and tenures to boost delivery.

The need to build affordable housing may be a barrier to some private delivery, particularly in areas with lower house prices in which construction costs take up a larger proportion of gross development value.

Affordable housing could play an important role in providing a solution, but it needs to be supported through policy: either by central funding or increasing the potential for Housing Associations and Local Authorities to borrow more against existing stock to allow them to build more homes.

Changes to policy can also trigger a hiatus in housing delivery. The shift from social rent to affordable rent has significantly impacted the delivery of new build affordable homes over the last two years, down by 31 per cent in 2013/14, compared to 2011/12. Long-term policy stability and ideally a cross-party approach to housing delivery would go a long way towards remedying this issue.

Finally, given the growing politics around housebuilding, there is a pressing need for accurate statistics that provide a clear picture of the whole market. A policy commitment to collecting and publishing more comprehensive data is needed.

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