Slow home building rates likely to keep rental demand strong

03 June 2008

Demand for rental accommodation across Britain is likely to remain high for some time yet as the problem of affordability affecting many would-be buyers refuses to go away.

Despite house prices currently falling, they are unlikely to decline enough to enable first-time buyers to get a foot onto the property ladder and therefore the best hope for many is for the government to build thousands of new homes.

However, speaking to Inside Housing, Mark Clare, the group chief executive of Barratt Homes, claimed that it is highly unlikely that the official target of 240,000 new homes to be built by 2016 will be reached.

John Slaughter of the Home Builders Federation, supports this view, stating that this means tenant demand will remain strong for the foreseeable future

He explained: "Affordability will continue to be a problem, because there will be an imbalance of supply and demand, and that will be reflected in comparatively high price levels.

"The affordability problem that exists would certainly continue and potentially get worse."

Those who are choosing to rent a property are likely to benefit from secure storage to hold their possessions until they manage to buy their own home.

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