These events raise the question of whether we will see the political momentum on housing maintained. However, the experience of the past year or two should leave us in no doubt that housing has moved up the political agenda. All parties appear to acknowledge that, to a greater or lesser degree, there is a housing crisis. More than that, there appears to be widespread acceptance that the housing sector has a key role to play in addressing it.

Despite being buoyed by Help to Buy, private housebuilders have a finite capacity to deliver more homes. The Housing White Paper acknowledges the need for new supply to come from a much wider range of sources and to be delivered across a wider range of tenures.

The manifestos of both main political parties contained commitments to deliver more sub-market housing, albeit in different guises. Of course, there are challenges, not least around funding and finance in a world with restricted grant. But, assuming the new housing minister is given sufficient power, our inaugural Housing Sector Survey comes at a pivotal moment for the sector. It also means we have good reason to be grateful to the 104 chief executives and senior board members of housing associations who answered some of the big questions of the day.

Their responses form the backbone of this report, which portrays a sector undergoing significant change, but one with plenty of ambition.

For those of you who want a snapshot of our conclusions, see '10 take-outs'. For those who like to explore the finer detail, the following pages will make for thought-provoking reading.