Residential Property Shortage to Persist: Shapps

The U.K. is unlikely to ever develop enough houses and apartments to meet the demand of its population, Housing Minister Grant Shapps said.  Britain needs to build around 245,000 residential properties annually in the decade through 2023 to meet demand, according to the Department for Communities and Local Government. That would leave a shortfall of at least 43,000 homes a year for the next five according to estimates.   “There isn’t one thing you can do to solve this,” Shapps said. “In the really best possible imaginable circumstances, the boom in the housing market, we were still only building 170,000,” he said. “If you couldn’t do it then, it’s even harder now.  We won’t get to the total unless we’re living in a much better economy,” he. “Today, we’re facing an incredibly tough global economy, euro-zone crisis, problems with mortgages, household incomes.”  Read more on the Bloomberg website.