Chancellor Urged to Increase Funding as Report Casts Doubt on Homes Target

Rachel Reeves is under renewed pressure to spend billions more on affordable housing at this month's spending review, after an industry report suggested the government had significantly overestimated how many new homes would be built over the next few years.

- Kiran Stacey

The findings from Savills, one of the country's biggest property consultancies, suggest the government is further away from hitting its target of building 1.5m new homes than previously admitted.

Kate Henderson, the chief executive of the National Housing Federation (NHF), which commissioned the report, said: "This analysis shows that reaching the OBR's [Office for Budget Responsibility] forecasts, let alone the government's targets, will require a generational boost to investment in social and affordable housing, and that this is the best way to boost overall delivery of new homes."

Chris Buckle, the residential research director at Savills, added: "The heroic rates of growth forecast by the OBR will not be achieved without further action from the government - particularly support for housing associations and an ambitious new grant funding programme."