Housing advisors call for 500,000 more homes

The government’s chief advisory body on housing affordability wants 500,000 more homes built than expected to meet long-term demand.

The National Housing and Planning Advice Unit has recommended targets for up to 3.48m new housing units – 500,000 more than the government has targeted by 2020.

It wants a minimum of 38,700 new homes and even as many as 53,800 in the south-east by 2016.

The Unit’s chairman Steve Nickell told the Financial Times demographic trends showed demand would far outstrip supply, in spite of the current housing slump.

But the newspaper reported the proposals are not supported by local councillors in the south-east, where the most homes would be built.