The Grenfell tower tragedy last year has brought the UK hous-
ing crisis into the spotlight, with many people now realising the
extent of the problem that the country faces. Grenfell itself is a
perfect example of social housing lacking in basic safety stand-
ards and is situated merely a few hundreds of metres away from
empty multi-millionaire properties. This, however, is merely the
tip of the iceberg for Britain.
Housing demand has soared in the last decade. This is due to
two main factors: population growth and social change. The
UK’s population was at 59.1 million in 2001, however has now
risen to 66.5 million. The rapid increase in population growth
has been largely caused by immigration; between the 2001 cen-
sus and 2011 census net migration has contributed to over half
the rise in population. At the start of the twentieth century the
average household was composed of four people, a figure which
is now around two and a half. On top of this, the young now
leave home at a much earlier age and the elderly are living sig-
nificantly longer. These factors all contribute to a massive in-
crease in demand for housing relative to the housing supply.
Basic economics therefore suggests that this will lead to a dras-
tic increase in the price of housing, which is indeed the case in
Britain.
The graph of UK house prices shows us how prices have
changed since 1975 and provides evidence on how much prices
have risen in the last decade. As of July 2018 the average house
price in the UK is £231,422. Property prices have risen by 1.2%
since last month, and by 3.1% since last year. Housing price
statistics are hard to interpret until you compare them with
average UK earnings. For instance, by taking the current aver-
age housing price of £231,422 and comparing this with the cur-
rent average UK wage of £27,600 for full-time employees, the
problem becomes apparent.
Are There Any Solutions to the
UK’s Housing Crisis?
Matthew Darke
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Article written October, 2018
