The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors believes the government slipped in its line of reasoning when it called for new land to be freed up in areas where house prices are rising.

"There is an lack of logic at the heart of the government's new thinking on housing," said a report from the surveyors’ institution.

The government says to improve affordability, land should be freed up for development in areas where house prices have been rising, whether or not the local authority want to or not. A consultation paper went out a few days before the parliamentary recess.

"The fact is," said the report, "that this will make no difference to prices and therefore no difference to affordability."

The government's own report into housing by Kate Barker stated that UK needed to double the number of houses built for a number of years to have any impact on affordability. Nothing like this is happening. So making this move under the guise of improving affordability is economic nonsense argue the surveyors.

There is a paradox in South East England. It is one of the most densely populated parts of Europe with high housing demand while possessing some of the lowest housing densities.

The surveyors believe building at higher densities provides part of the answer. True, not everyone wants to live in a flat but with some reports anticipating that 40% of UK households will be occupied by single people by 2010, there is undoubtedly scope for achieving spacious but high density homes.

Mansion blocks, terraced housing, town houses and mews housing have all achieved this in the past, the surveyors point out.