Why building new towns isn't the answer to the UK's housing crisis

The UK’s new government is intent on building 1.5 million homes over the next five years. It’s all part of the plan to address the housing supply and affordability crisis.

Many of these homes are to be built in the form of large communities or new towns of more than 10,000 housing units each. Some English new towns built after the second world war, such as Milton Keynes, Harlow and Basildon, have been successful economically. But the building of new towns has ground to a halt since the 1990s.

The importance of large developments for housing supply in the UK has increased dramatically in the last 25 years. Assistant Professors Amrita Kulka and Nikhil Datta discuss their new evidence in The Conversation which reveals a significant shift in the source of housing supply which sees an increasing share of new homes coming from large developments.

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• Research summary: Barriers to housing supply and the UK planning system