Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department have made an assessment of the potential impacts of implementing a national migration strategy on (a) planning, (b) housing and (c) house prices.

It is obvious that a rising population due to net migration puts pressure on housing supply, ultimately leading to rising prices.

The standard method is used by councils to inform the preparation of their local plans, by considering how many new households there might be in an area in the future, as well as local wages and house prices.

The Government is committed to delivering new 300,000 homes per year to help create a more sustainable and affordable housing market. Since 2010, over 2.2 million additional homes have been delivered. Annual housing supply is up 10% compared to the previous year with over 232,000 net additional homes delivered in 2021/22. This is the third highest yearly rate for the last 30 years.

There is evidence suggesting that immigration has contributed to rising house prices. The impact on prices in a local area of course depends on local supply and a variety of other factors. The Migration Advisory Committee found in 2018 that at a local authority level a 1% increase in population due to net migration increased house prices by 1%. DLUHC internal analysis supports a link between net migration and rising house prices.