Speaking at the London Real Estate Forum this week housing minister Brandon Lewis said the Conservatives wanted to see “much more investment London’s private rented sector”.
He said: “The last thing we will do is deter good landlords and investors by increasing red tape and unnecessary regulations such as rent controls, which is what the opposition were promising before the election.”
He added that the government will continue to invest in London’s property market but acknowledged the “vital ingredient” to increasing housing supply is land.
He said: “Land is clearly scarce in the capital, so we need to ensure new homes are built in the right places – especially on previously developed land and by using existing buildings where we can.
“We’ve also been working with the Mayor to create 20 new housing zones on brownfield land, with £200m from the Greater London Authority matched pound for pound with government funding.
“These brownfield sites will be led by partnerships in the local area, using development orders to speed up the process of housebuilding.”
The latest construction output figures from the Office for National Statistics published today with output estimated to have risen by 0.2% in Q4, before declining by only 0.2% in Q1.
Samuel Tombs, economist at Capital Economics, said: "Prior to this release, construction output was estimated to have fallen by a quarterly 2.2% in Q4 and by a further 1.1% in Q1. But the picture is now considerably brighter."
