A Post-Pandemic Shift in Housing Needs

As we emerge from the pandemic, many experts predict a paradigm shift in how we live and work. They may be right. Research highlighted in Monday’s blog suggested that millions of people are planning to move house in the near future. However, simply facilitating home moves is not enough—we need to take a deeper look at how housing is provided in the UK.

Why Our Current Housing Model Isn’t Working

With local elections just around the corner, this is a rare opportunity for voters to question local candidates about housing policies. The reality is that continuing with the same approach to housing development does little to solve the ongoing housing crisis.

The UK has long struggled with:

• Unaffordable property prices
• Lack of access to essential services and infrastructure
• New developments that fail to meet actual demand

Yet, despite acknowledging these chronic issues, successive governments continue to offer the same solutions—building more homes and introducing first-time buyer incentives. Unfortunately, this strategy hasn’t worked in the past, and there’s no sign that current policies will succeed where others have failed.

A Broken Market: Too Much of the Wrong Housing

One of the biggest problems with the current housing strategy is that we have too much of the wrong kind of housing in the wrong locations. At the same time, there are too few affordable homes in the areas where people actually want to live and work.

Instead of focusing on developer profits and short-term schemes, housing policy should prioritise:

• Affordability for first-time buyers and renters
• Sustainable developments in well-connected areas
• Better infrastructure and local amenities

House Prices Are Still on the Rise

Recent ONS data shows that house prices have increased by 8.6% since February 2020, pushing the average home price to £250,000—£20,000 more than the same time last year. The government’s latest low-deposit mortgage scheme, which offers 95% mortgages on homes valued under £600,000, may help some buyers. However, lenders are likely to offset the risk with higher interest rates, making affordability a continued challenge.

Will ‘Levelling Up’ Policies Help or Hinder?

According to Richard Donnell, Zoopla’s research and insight director, the new mortgage scheme is unlikely to benefit buyers in the South of England, where high house prices remain a major barrier. He noted that this aligns with the government’s "levelling up" policy, aimed at helping buyers in more affordable regions. However, this raises an important question: Is penalising potential buyers in the South while assisting those elsewhere really the best approach? Housing policy should be about creating opportunities across the board, rather than dividing the market regionally.

Time for a Fundamental Rethink on Housing Policy

Despite the ongoing housing affordability crisis, neither of the main political parties has put forward a bold new approach to solving the problem. A fundamental shift in policy is needed to:

• Prioritise genuinely affordable homes in key areas
• Rethink housing supply strategies beyond short-term incentives
• Ensure infrastructure keeps pace with development

Unless we see real change, we risk perpetuating a broken system that benefits developers and existing property investors while leaving first-time buyers and renters struggling. Housing is a long-term issue that requires long-term solutions—and those in power need to start thinking beyond quick fixes.