Michael Gove the Government secretary for Levelling up acknowledged that the housing crisis in Britain is actually worse than is widely perceived, diving into the cabinet dispute over immigration.
In an interview with Times Radio he highlighted the insufficient housing supply in response to the historically high levels of net migration. Gove conceded that governments have long failed to construct an adequate number of homes, exacerbating Britain’s already acute shortage.
When questioned about the UK’s ability to accommodate escalating immigration, Gove admitted to Times Radio that: “Yes. In fact, I think actually the situation is, if anything, worse than you depict.” Mr Gove added: “It is the case that the migratory flows put more pressure on housing, but we haven’t built enough homes overall for generations.”
Addressing the record net migration of 745,000 in 2022, Mr Gove stressed the need for a very substantial increase in housebuilding and a significant reduction in immigration to tackle the challenge. “I think we need to do both,” said Mr Gove. “I think it’s important when we’re looking at the migration figures to recognise that some of these figures are students, some of these figures are Ukrainian refugees, some of them are British nationals from Hong Kong.”
Despite the Conservative Party’s abandonment of its previous pledge of 300,000 new homes annually, Mr Gove expressed confidence in achieving the government’s goal of a million new homes during this parliamentary term. He also committed to the passage of his leasehold reform bill, through parliament before the general election.
The data however paints a somewhat bleak picture for those in or looking to enter the private rental market. According to figures from the ONS only 200,000 homes were built last year. Clearly, set against a back drop of 750,000 new migrants and a growing population domestically this is a drop in the ocean and is putting more and more pressure on an already creaking housing market. This has resulted in double digit rental growth for a continuous 18 months as reported here by Zoopla in their most recent rental market snapshot. There are few signs of this changing in the next few years so those investors buying good quality accommodation look set to see their rental yields continue to rise significantly
