Housing Market Taskforce

The instability of the UK housing market has a negative impact on lower income households in both its high and low extremes. Whilst there are some measures in place to help people in financial difficulty, there is also need to examine longer term options to support struggling households.

JRF has established a 'Housing Market Taskforce' – a small group of interdisciplinary experts, to set out policy approaches that might achieve a more stable housing market that avoids extreme fluctuations between 'boom and bust'.

Read our Investigations summary of this programme (PDF, 140KB).

Key issues

The Task Force has commissioned a series of evidence reviews to inform its deliberations on tackling house price volatility. Messages emerging from these reviews include:

• Housing market volatility, measured by house price changes, is higher in the UK than in Germany and the USA. Within the UK the local picture of housing market volatility differs significantly from the national picture;
• The gap between the 'housing haves' and the 'housing have-nots' is increasing even if some people in the 'middle' have increased their share of wealth by becoming home-owners.
• It is important to consider the qualities that people value in a home and how these might be achieved regardless of tenure. For example, safer neighbourhoods, security and control are all qualities associated with home-ownership that could conceivably be offered by other tenures too.
• New ways of increasing housing supply need to be explored. However institutional investment in the UK private rented sector is likely to remain low without substantial and unjustifiable subsidies. Institutional investment in rental housing is also limited in other countries;
• The focus of shared ownership and shared equity products needs to change – away from increasing home ownership for marginal purchasers towards assisting those who are able to pay for their housing over their lifetime but not able to cope with the risks involved.

More background

Evidence reviews commissioned by the Task Force are available on:

• Local housing market volatility
• The private rented sector
• Low cost home ownership and risk
• Increasing supply in the social rented sector
• Public attitudes to housing
• Home ownership and the distribution of wealth
• International systems of housing taxation and subsidies
• Tenure rights and responsiblities
• Rents and new housing supply
• Welfare safety nets for home owners

Consultation responses are also available on the future of social housing, the principles of the UK taxation system, the abolition of regional spatial strategies, institutional investment in the private rented sector and the challenge of meeting families' aspirations for good housing and a good home.