Delivering his keynote speech at this year’s FSE London, Peston said that Theresa May’s new government had plans to do “something big” on housing in this year’s Autumn Statement.
“They seem keen to do something big on housing. But beyond saying this, they’ve not said a great deal,” he said.
“They know they can’t overturn overnight the economy’s reliance on home ownership and rising house prices. Will they have a new model for the release of land for development? They might do more on shared ownership. Will they try to do something on greater security of tenure for those in rented accommodation? Longer-term tenancies seem to be one way she [May] thinks she could help.”
Peston noted that there was unlikely to be a “massive fiscal reset” in this year’s Autumn Statement, but added: “I do expect there to be some long-term signalling on housing, industrial strategy and the productivity challenge.”
This week, housing minister Gavin Barwell suggested that the government would shift its focus away from sole home ownership and look at a wider range of tenures, including renting in the private sector.
Speaking at a property conference Barwell said that homes of every type should be built to help the government meet its 200,000 homes target by 2020, ambitions which were set out under former prime minister David Cameron’s government.
