The Prime Minister’s demands for three million new homes should be ignored, according to Britain’s biggest buy-to-let company…

Although Gordon Brown announced a series of initiatives to “make housing more affordable”, he has made the same promises for the past seven years to little or no effect.

Pierre Williams, spokesman for Instant Access Properties, which sources buy-to-let properties for thousands of UK investors, said: “It is now six years since the housebuilding industry told Mr Brown, who was then Chancellor, that the production of new homes in Britain was at its lowest since 1924, excluding the Second World War years.

“Promises were made at the time to tackle this emerging crisis. But since that time, we have only seen an endless series of studies to assess the problem rather than action to tackle it.

No effective solutions

Mr Williams continued: “No effective solutions have been introduced and nothing the Prime Minister announced today indicates that will change. The planning system continues to stifle now development and Britain’s housing shortage, far from improving, is worsening at unprecedented rate.

“Indeed, the Prime Minister’s promises today to allow more public consultation on planned developments, can only serve to further delay decisions by increasing the number of voices that have to be heard.

“Just 162,000 homes were built in the UK in 2001 – the lowest number since 1924. Although the Government claims the situation has improved, this is simply untrue.

“Production has crept upwards since 2001 to a current annual build rate of about 175,000 (2) But this in no way caters for the estimated 230,000 – 280,000 (3) new households being formed each year. It is symptomatic of this government to claim matters are improving when, at best, they are deteriorating at a slightly reduced rate.”

Snail-paced change

Following the announcement of Britain’s housebuilding crisis, Gordon Brown commissioned Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee member, Kate Barker, to carry out the most detailed study yet undertaken of the reasons behind the housing shortage.

Despite the final and full report being published more than three years ago, no progress has been made on the report’s key demand – to speed up the planning system to allow more homes to be built.

Just a fortnight ago, the Office of Fair Trading announced it was starting a near identical study as Kate Barker’s. This can only delay any chance of making progress, although its eventual findings are almost certain to be similar.

FTBs ‘frustrated’

Williams added: “Indeed, it is not in the Prime Minister’s interest to make housing more affordable. Because of soaring prices, as Chancellor, Gordon Brown saw annual receipts from Stamp Duty on house purchases soar from £600 million in 1997 to almost £5 billion last year (5) Inheritance Tax receipts have similarly risen, almost entirely due to rising house prices. Government spending plans rely on the housing market.

“We know that more criticism will be heaped on so-called ‘greedy’ buy-to-let investors. But frustrated first time buyers should know who to blame. Investors are only trying to secure their financial futures by taking advantage of a situation not of their own making. Given that there is little confidence in personal pension schemes, who can blame them for this?”