For years, the country, but more prolifically the capital, has been failing to generate the numbers of new homes it needs to house a population that has been growing fast. According to the 2011 census, London needs at least 40,000 new homes every year just to keep pace, yet over the last three years, only 107,800 were built.
Councils in London have recently calculated that to clear the backlog and meet growing demand more than 100,000 new homes a year are required—but house prices in London are now soaring above where they were before the crash, placing homeownership beyond the reach of ever more Londoners, not to mention others who would like to move here. This is not a recent phenomenon. The days when an average sort of London wage could buy afirst, modest London home in a shabby part of town disappeared more than 30 years ago.