Build for Britain

Sounds very much like the government's commitment to build 1.5million new homes by the end of this Parliament is slipping The government has previously expressed absolute confidence in hitting it. Today Matthew Pennycook, the housing minister, said that the government is 'aiming for that target' but wouldn't commit to it outright He said that he is 'absolutely confident' the government will hit 'high and sustainable rates of housebuilding in the later yers of this Parliament 'We're still aiming for that target. I am still absolutely confident we're going to get to high and sustainable rates of housebuilding in the later years of this Parliament. 'We want that target in place because it's ambitious. We need the sector to galvanise itself, to gear up to develop those houses. Anything less wouldn't have been commensurate to the scale of the crisis we face'

Housing minister Matthew Pennycook says the govt is ‘still aiming’ for target to build 1.5m new homes, but does not commit to hitting it. Warns that in the wake of the Iran war, ‘the headwinds are growing stronger’

Construction has hit record lows under Labour. The next centre-right government has an opportunity to reset Britain's housing system. Our documentary on the housebuilding crisis - The 2040 Test - is out now.

After Grenfell, SW1 promised “never again”. Instead, they built a system where unsafe towers stand and safe ones never get built. In today's substack, I make the case if we don’t fix the fire service and the BSR, the next disaster is only a matter of time.

I think it’s under-appreciated how much property prices in central London have fallen. If we take inflation into account - which we should - this is a 30% fall in value.