Impact on Housing - Main Points


The below summary was last updated July 2019

  • The UK has a housing crisis because supply is insufficient for current population growth. Home ownership is falling and a growing number of young people have to live with their parents due to high rents.
  • Immigration is a critical factor. For example, it drove up house prices in England by about 20% between 1991 and 2016 (Govt bulletin, April 2018).
  • ONS data for a recent ten-year period shows that more than 90% of added households in England had a non-UK born head (‘England’ tab of spreadsheet).
  • Immigration to England at current levels will generate the need to build one home every six minutes, night and day (Household Projections).
  • Even this underestimates the impact of immigration on future housing demand, since it only takes account of future arrivals. While the relatively young age structure of the existing non-UK born population means this will also drive future household growth.
  • The UK housing crisis must be addressed but not by building on the UK’s green belt and eating up our countryside. A major reduction in immigration has to be a significant part of the solution, in addition to improvements in the supply of housing.
  • A majority (54%) of those who say there is a housing crisis see immigration as the main reason (Parliamentary briefing, 2017).
  • 55% of 18-24 year olds support the government’s promise to reduce the immigration by a significant amount. Immigration is a key factor in rising housing costs (Channel 4 News Deltapoll, June 2018).

Impact on Housing Research

Library

Over the 23 years that Migration Watch UK has been working in this field we have produced many papers.

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