5.3 million new homes needed as ageing and immigration drive demand
Now here’s a long term challenge in these turbulent times worth reminding us of the need to get back to reality….
More than five million new homes could have to be built in England in the next 25 years to cope with the impact of the ageing population, immigration and the singleton lifestyle, new Government estimates suggest.
Projections of the likely number of households produced by the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) have been revised upward since the last estimate two years ago to include another 4,000 a year – or 100,000 over a quarter of a century.
Overall the DCLG estimates that, if current rates continue, the number of households in England will have grown by an average of 210,000 per year over the period from 2014 to 2039.
By that time households would be 14 per cent smaller on average as a result of couples having fewer children and a trend towards living alone, family breakdown and more widows or widowers.
There would also be fewer young families, with the number of households headed by someone aged between 25 and 34 set to fall by 9,000 per year in that time – or 225,000 over the period.
Statisticians suggested ageing would be the biggest single factor driving the growth in households – and therefore housing demand.
“We have got Britain building again with the latest figures showing that new homes are up by 25 per cent over the past year
The number of households headed by someone over 65 is expected to rise by 155,000 per year until 2039 – almost three quarters of the projected average rise.