Will Government Policies Increase Housing Supply?

Current government policies designed to increase housing supply may not achieve that goal, top property consultancy Savills has warned. The company has also highlighted that changes in affordable housing definition and policy are “likely to leave a gap in housing provision for those on lower incomes”. A research note just published by the company pointed out that ‘Help to Buy’, ‘Starter Homes’ and shared ownership would largely serve the same parts of the market. “As a result of the overlap, there is a risk that the schemes may not deliver additional homes”. The assessment also argued there was a risk that the ‘Starter Homes’ policy could distort the new homes sales market, “without significantly increasing the number of new homes delivered overall”. Read more on the Planning Portal.