UK Government urged to continue with building 300,000 homes

Propertymark a leading professional body for estate and letting agents has concerns over the current housing crisis in the UK…

Propertymark, as a body, has urged the UK Government to continue with its target of building 300,000 new homes in England a year in response to changing demographics following Thursday’s publication of the latest Office for National Statistics’ divorce rate figures.

Though their latest statistics found that the divorce rate is the smallest it has been since 1971, with 80,057 divorces completed in the two countries in 2022, many legal experts have commented that a large number of couples could be delaying ending their marriages due to cost of living pressures. 113,305 divorces were completed in 2021, which demonstrates that the 2022 number has shrunk by 29.5 per cent since then.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, the Office for National Statistics found that there were 108,421 divorces of opposite-sex and same sex couples combined.

Nathan Emerson, CEO at Propertymark:

“These figures demonstrate that there should be an even further increase in demand for housing in the near future once more people feel they can afford to divorce, should they need to. Other factors that will affect an increase in demand for housing include the number of separated families gradually increasing, people living longer, and more people relocating to this country. It is imperative that the UK Government builds more houses and meets its own target to ensure that they can keep up with demand in response to the country’s changing demographics.”

Propertymark is the leading professional body for estate and letting agents, commercial agents, auctioneers, valuers and inventory providers comprising 17,800 members. They are member-led with a Board which is made up of practicing agents and we work closely with our members to set professional standards through regulation, accredited and recognised qualifications, an industry-leading training programme and mandatory Continuing Professional Development.