UK 'needs to double housebuilding target to meet demand'

England needs 616,000 extra homes each year to accommodate record numbers of migrants, according to the Centre for Policy Studies. The think tank said current house building targets were based on outdated assumptions of some 170,500 migrants arriving in England each year. Even if net migration reaches 700,000 a year, as some analysts have predicted, 500,000 homes would still need to be built annually. The Home Office has privately predicted that another 1.1m foreign workers and students would come to the UK in 2024 unless ministers intervene. Kristian Niemietz, head of political economy at the Institute for Economic Affairs think tank, said concerns about the pressure of increased migration on the housing market could be resolved by a more flexible planning system. 

The Daily Telegraph (23/05/2023)