Housing
Overcrowded Islands? The challenges of demographic change for the United Kingdom
Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts CBE, July 2020
The UK population has grown fast in recent years – an increase of 6.6 million since 2001 with a further increase of 5.6 million expected by 2041. Even for a geographically small island, the UK is relatively crowded by comparison with France and Germany. Indeed, an overwhelming majority of British people think that the country is already overcrowded and that steps should be taken… [Full Details]
Download PDF Buy from Civitas Buy From AmazonThe Land Question: Fixing the dysfunction at the root of the housing crisis
Daniel Bentley, February 2018
Why aren’t we building more homes? This has been the perennial question in housing policy, as initiative after initiative seems to have made too little headway. But, as Daniel Bentley explains in this new guide to the housing crisis, the challenge is not just to increase the number of new homes, but to ensure the right ones are built in the right places. The… [Full Details]
Download PDF Buy from Civitas Buy From AmazonBuilding Homes Faster? A commentary on the government’s plans for increasing the pace of development
Daniel Bentley, May 2017
The government’s housing white paper identifies the delivery rate of new homes, once planning permission has been granted, as ‘too slow’ and a ‘major problem’. This is a welcome new consideration within Whitehall, to join longstanding and equally valid concerns about bottlenecks in the planning system. The proposals it suggests for tackling slow development include: removing the practical barriers to development that are identified… [Full Details]
Download PDFRestoring a Nation of Home Owners: What went wrong with home ownership in Britain, and how to start putting it right
Peter Saunders, June 2016
After almost a century of continuous expansion, the rate of home ownership in Britain has fallen from 70 per cent of households in 2000 to fewer than 65 per cent today. Among the under-forties it has dipped alarmingly. This book asks what has caused this decline in home ownership, why it matters, and what might be done to reverse it. The spread of home… [Full Details]
Download PDF Buy From AmazonThe Housing Question: Overcoming the shortage of homes
Daniel Bentley, March 2016
Something has been going wrong in the British housing market for some time now. The problems that have accumulated are manifold – home ownership is falling, social housing waiting lists are growing, overcrowding and homelessness are increasing, to name a few – but the bottom line is that housing has become increasingly expensive for everybody. Too much money has been chasing too few homes, and affordability has… [Full Details]
Download PDFThe Future of Private Renting: Shaping a fairer market for tenants and taxpayers
Daniel Bentley, January 2015
The private rented sector, which has undergone a remarkable renaissance over the past two decades, is becoming increasingly central to considerations about the housing market and the benefits system. Four million homes are now privately rented in England, accounting for 18 per cent of all households. The sector has doubled in size since 1989 and contains more households now than social housing. Owner-occupation is… [Full Details]
Download PDFFinding Shelter: Overseas investment in the UK housing market
David G Green & Daniel Bentley, February 2014
Overseas interest in the London property market has grown in recent years. The capital is now one of the most attractive property markets for international investors all over the world. Foreign buyers are chiefly interested in costly central London properties, on which they spend billions of pounds a year, but the impact ripples out to the suburbs and beyond. The new-build market in central… [Full Details]
Download PDFBriefings
Rise and Fall: The shift in household growth rates since the 1990s
Daniel Bentley and Alex McCallum, February 2019
Land of Make-Believe: Compensating landowners for what might have been
October 2018
Reform of the land compensation rules
Daniel Bentley, March 2018
Housing supply and household growth, national and local
Daniel Bentley, December 2016
Planning approvals vs housebuilding activity, 2006-2015
Daniel Bentley, August 2016
Articles for the Media
Don't be fooled: Philip Hammond's new funds for housebuilding are not what they seem
Daniel Bentley, The Daily Telegraph, November 2017
Theresa May can keep her pledge to fix Britain's housing market without vast borrowing
Daniel Bentley, The Daily Telegraph, November 2017
The Help to Buy scheme has made the housing situation worse
Daniel Bentley, Prospect, May 2017
Javid must empower councils to get more homes built
Daniel Bentley, Conservative Home, February 2017
Ministers need to cap the price of housing land
Daniel Bentley, The Times, February 2017
We aren’t building enough houses - and we’re building them in the wrong places
Daniel Bentley, Prospect, December 2016
Where are the right places for England's new homes?
Daniel Bentley, CityMetric, December 2016
The more the state has withdrawn from housebuilding, the more it has found itself propping up the private market
Daniel Bentley, LSE Blogs, December 2016
The decline of home ownership will not be reversed until housing is plentiful and cheap
Daniel Bentley, The Huffington Post, December 2016
Is Javid really prepared to get enough homes built?
Daniel Bentley, Conservative Home, October 2016
Blogposts
Housebuilding before planning - the glory years?
Daniel Bentley, July 2017
Rational commercial behaviour - but not in the country's interests
Daniel Bentley, April 2017
What land compensation powers will new housing development corporations have?
Daniel Bentley, April 2017
A nation of landowners - but for how long?
Daniel Bentley, March 2017
Speeding up delivery: A quick take on the Housing White Paper
Daniel Bentley, February 2017
What role for council building? A market-led solution is unlikely to deliver the homes we need
Daniel Bentley, February 2017
If new homes are being approved, why shouldn't we expect them to be built?
Daniel Bentley, January 2017
Sadiq Khan's affordable housing strategy could provide a blueprint for planning reform
Daniel Bentley, November 2016