“More than 800,000” new London homes needed by 2021

London will need at least 800,000 new homes by 2021 or risk falling behind other global capitals, a body of the city’s councils has warned.

London Councils, which represents 33 local authorities, said that swelling demand meant London had to seriously speed up construction or endanger its “future status as a global city.”

Rising house prices and rents, which are stopping many people from getting on the property ladder, were listed as a chief concern by the body.

In recent years, we have been building only some 20,000 new homes in the capital each year. The Greater London Authority has widely condemned this, saying 32,600 new homes were needed to be built each year which amounts to just under 300,000 homes for the next nine years. This falls well short of London Councils’ calculations.

London Councils estimates that 526,000 new homes will need to be constructed to keep up with the current pace of demand, while 283,000 should be erected to tackle the backlog of and create more capacity.

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