Housing gap

The Housing Gap is the term used in the Association for Consultancy and Engineering’s July 2013 housing research and refers to the differential in supply between house building rates and population growth.

This gap equates to approximately 886,000 homes being needed by 2021 that are not being built. Using the mix adjusted price from DCLG for 2010, this places the market value on this gap of £185bn. To put this into context, this housing gap projection in 2011 is equivalent to the number of houses in Portsmouth, jumping to one the size of Kent by 2018, twice the size of Birmingham by 2021.

It is also important to recognise that this gap was only calculated up until 2021. Given the time it takes to reform, implement, plan, develop and sell housing though it is likely that this gap will continue to contribute to a continually growing problem with the supply of housing.

Finally, it is also important to recognise that the Housing Gap does not take into account existing shortages in building rates. The extra strain caused by the growing Housing Gap will therefore exacerbate the problems the UK already faces on its current housing stock.

Research from Shelter for example found that: “There are a number of aspects that point towards a historic and continued housing shortage, with 1.7 million households waiting for social housing, approximately 650,000 households in England are considered overcrowded, and an further 49,000 households were living in temporary accommodation arranged by local authorities.” Such pressures only add to the extent of the shortage going forward.

Coverage of the research included:

The local Government Executive Inside housing

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