The archaic language of Theresa May telling housebuilders to “do their duty” says so much more than the actual words. It demonstrates an almost otherworldliness – she understands there is a problem, but can’t really accept that the solution to the problem requires radical government action. Her language also shows how little control the government is prepared to exert on the supply side of the housing market. Why pick on housebuilders when there are far more morally repugnant businesses out there – all with the primary objective of delivering sustainable returns to their shareholders?

We all know that housing is complex and is not a single market. Even within individual cities there are vastly different housing issues, and the issues of London and the South-east are so different from those of other parts of the UK that talking about them in the same sentence diminishes the depth of the issue in either.

However, the crisis is, largely manmade (quite possibly womanmade) and is largely a political, not a construction, issue. Perhaps this was recognised by the government when it commissioned Oliver Letwin to chair the review to “seek to explain the significant gap between housing completions and the amount of land allocated or permissioned” and make recommendations aiming to increase housing supply and see “over the long term house prices rise slower than earnings”. 

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