The population of the UK will rise to nearly 72 million within the next 24 years.  The Office for National Statistics forecasts that there will be 10 million more people by 2033.

Commercial property employs many hundreds of thousands of people (chiefly in the construction, development and management of buildings, letting and other transactional work and investment management sectors). BPF Budget 2009 submission. BPF

Research for HBF found that, on average, there are approximately 1.5 direct house building jobs per new dwelling, with further employment benefits down the supply chain and on into the wider economy. So for every 10,000 additional homes completed, we might expect 15,000 additional direct house building jobs, plus a multiplied increase down the supply chain. HBF Budget Submission – April 2009

Based on the steep fall in housing completions already recorded by CLG and NHBC, along with individual company announcements, it seems likely that during the recession somewhere between 100,000 and 150,000 house building jobs have been lost out of total house building employment in 2007 of around 320,000. HBF Budget Submission – April 2009

Commercial property employs many hundreds of thousands of people (chiefly in the construction, development and management of buildings, letting and other transactional work and investment management sectors). BPF Budget 2009 submission. BPF

The commercial property sector contributed around £62 billion to the UK’s GDP in 2008, representing some 4% of GDP. BPF Budget 2009 submission

The UK’s commercial property stock was worth over £450 billion at the end of 2008 and it represents both a major factor of production and an important investment asset class. BPF Budget 2009 submission

The commercial property industry is a significant part of the UK economy. It is six times larger than the agriculture sector, more than twice the size of the oil industry and larger than each of the banking, leisure, transport and communications sectors. British Property Federation (BPF)

Britain’s planning system is still not bringing land forward quickly enough to meet housing needs - It takes on average 15 months for home builders to receive full planning permission on sites they wish to develop.  This excludes time taken for pre-application discussions which can extend the whole process to over 2 years in many cases. HBF Key Facts document – Jan 2008

The story of the housing market over the last 30 years is of boom and bust overlaid on a trend of prices rising 2.9% a year faster than inflation. The fundamental reason for this is that we have not been building enough homes: demand has outstripped supply, causing prices to rise, affordability to deteriorate and increasing volatility. National Housing and Planning Advice Unit (NHPAU), July 2009

It takes on average 15 months for home builders to receive full planning permission on sites they wish to use.  This compares with around 3 months in the mid-1970s. Home Builders Federation (HBF), 2006

Between 1997 and 2003, the amount of land being brought forward for development annually fell by 7%. CLG, 2007

It took more than twice as long for the population to go from 50 to 60 million, between 1948 and 2005.

The population, currently 61 million, is now expected to hit 70 million by 2029, one year later than previously thought, and 71.6 million by 2033.

425,000 people will be added to the population every year between 2009 and 2033

Whilst housing output has increased in recent years it is still lower than previous decades e.g, in 1927, 80 years ago, 255,000 homes were built in Great Britain. Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), 2007