The House Building Market Study – Final Report has been published by the Competition & Markets Authority. Once again, an independent investigation has highlighted the failure of the new homes market to deliver sufficient homes of the quality, quantity and value that are needed to address the housing challenges within the UK.

The report is clear that the failure to deliver arises from a speculative new build market that too often disregards the customer, combined with an ineffective and uncertain planning system. These failures have seen, “…the gap widen considerably between what the market will deliver and what communities need.”

Peter Johns, CEO, commented: “NaCSBA’s input into the consultation process is clear with the welcome statement within the report that, ‘under the speculative model of housebuilding, housebuilders that build homes for private sale have an incentive to match, but not exceed, the absorption rate. One way of addressing this would be to encourage non-speculative housebuilding models including self- or custom-build homes’.”

If we are to build the homes that more people want to live in, then we need to do more to allow every form of housing delivery to flourish. This includes the hidden and untapped custom and self-build market. A market that exists on scale in every other major market economy.

Andrew Baddeley-Chappell, Policy Director at NaCSBA, commented: “This report highlights the failure of our new build market and the need for urgent change if we are to build the number and type of homes that customers demand. The solutions are clear. We need to open up the market by enabling more new build opportunities for more providers, including custom and self-build.”

“To do this the planning system needs to enable more small- and medium-sized plots to come forward and the unhealthy lack of variation and choice on large sites to be addressed. We cannot wait. If we are to see significant change before the end of this decade then change must start now.”