The UK Housing Market: A Place of Your Own?

The long-lived boom in the UK housing market, which seems to be at an end, exposed a number of structural problems in this vital area of social policy. The growing inability of first-time buyers to afford to buy their own property excludes many young people from home ownership. Demographic changes in Britain mean that we will need more housing, which requires an increase in house construction. Greater supply of homes should help moderate price rises in future. But where are these homes going to be built? How many of them will be 'affordable'? And what are the likely environmental effects of a boom in house building? This 'Wanna Argument?' looks at these and other aspects of the drive to help people own a place of their own.