Social rent is clearly the number one housing type required, according to our sentiment survey respondents.

Furthermore, our capacity survey shows that the proportion of organisations planning to deliver that tenure has increased compared with last year. Providers have been quick to recognise the government’s more positive rhetoric towards social housing.

Ultimately, development activity responds to funding programmes. The extent to which good intention will translate into action will be limited by both the £2 billion in additional funding promised for social rented homes and the terms on which it will be available.

So, the expectation is that affordable rent and shared ownership will continue to be delivered in greater numbers given the £7 billion of funding being targeted at them.

Our focus groups feel that, increasingly, the distinctions between tenure types and funding allocated to them makes it difficult to meet the sector’s ambitions: to provide affordable homes for those most in need.

There was a feeling that too many tenures and labels are unhelpful and fail to acknowledge regional and local differences in the market dynamics, or the changing circumstances of the occupier.