HBF warns OBR on impact of scrapping housing targets

The Home Builders Federation has written to the Office for Budget Responsibility expressing concern that abolishing housebuilding targets will lead to 100,000 fewer new homes being built each year and a £17 billion reduction in economic activity.

Over the summer both former prime minister Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak – who this afternoon (October 24) was confirmed as the new Tory leader and therefore will be the new PM - said they were opposed to top-down housebuilding targets. This position was reiterated last month by housing secretary Simon Clarke.

But HBF says that moving away from the 300,000 home target and the standard method for assessing housing need will result in local planning authorities reducing the number of new homes planned in their areas. It refers the OBR to analysis by Matthew Spry, senior director at planning consultancy Lichfields, who says: “If the replacement for the standard method is a vacuum or some kind of ‘soft’ target, it will….likely lead to a much-reduced level of housing provision.” Spry goes on to estimate that the figure could be as low as 140,000 homes a year, which HBF says is “100,000 fewer than the number of new homes the industry …