Demand for housing will DOUBLE over the next two decades and homes will have to be found for 4.7million extra families if high levels of immigration return after the pandemic, campaigners warn

  • Figure would fall to 2million if immigration was at level that had no impact on population growth in England 
  • Migration Watch said high levels of immigration were likely under 'points-based' system to be introduced in new year after Brexit transition period ends
  • Ministers are trying to find ways of boosting housebuilding but ran into a Tory rebellion last month

Demand for housing will double over the next two decades if high levels of immigration return after the pandemic, campaigners warned yesterday.

Migration Watch said homes would have to be found for 4.7million extra families if arrivals stayed at the level seen last year.

However that figure would fall to two million if immigration was at a level that had no impact on population growth in England.

The think-tank said high levels of immigration were likely under a new 'points-based' system to be introduced in the new year after the Brexit transition period ends.

Ministers are trying to find ways of boosting housebuilding but ran into a Tory rebellion last month.

Demand for housing will double over the next two decades if high levels of immigration return after the pandemic, campaigners warned yesterday. Migration Watch said homes would have to be found for 4.7million extra families if arrivals stayed at the level seen last year

Demand for housing will double over the next two decades if high levels of immigration return after the pandemic, campaigners warned yesterday. Migration Watch said homes would have to be found for 4.7million extra families if arrivals stayed at the level seen last year

Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick was forced to scrap a formula that would have allowed hundreds of thousands of homes to be built on green fields in southern England.

A revamped scheme will now target big cities and northern regions where there is less population growth and pressure on public services.

Migration Watch's report, based on Office for National Statistics projections, examined various levels of immigration.

If net migration is zero, then the number of households in England will rise from 23.2million in 2018 to 25.3million by 2043, it said – an increase of just over two million. 

However if net migration continues to run at the high level recorded in 2019 – 263,000 additional people a year – then there will be demand for 27.9million homes in 2043, an increase of 4.7million.

Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick (above) was forced to scrap a formula that would have allowed hundreds of thousands of homes to be built on green fields in southern England

Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick (above) was forced to scrap a formula that would have allowed hundreds of thousands of homes to be built on green fields in southern England

'Immigration alone accounts for 57 per cent of additional homes projected to be needed under the high migration scenario, 2.7million of 4.7million,' the report said. 

'At the level that net immigration reached in 2019 it would account for just over half the homes needed.'

This would mean immigration would soak up more than 100,000 of the 189,000 homes needed every year if ONS projections proved accurate, the think-tank said.

Its report added: 'The arrival of a new city from overseas every year cannot help but add hugely to pressure on communities up and down the UK to bulldoze countryside – even protected greenbelt land – in order to make way for housing.

Tighter immigration control is necessary to tackle the housing crisis and to protect our precious green space.'

Alp Mehmet of Migration Watch said: 'Something like one in every two homes needed to meet England's soaring demand looks set to be the result of immigration over the next 25 years.

'Reducing immigration is essential in order to halt the gobbling-up of green space.'

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