Commenting on the housing market, Williams said that the latest buy-to-let figures demonstrated that demand for housing in the private rented sector is high and we can expect it to remain so for many years to come.
He added: “The debate now turns to how the government addresses the very considerable housing challenges posed by an inadequate supply of homes and falling home ownership.
“In his recent comments at the Building Societies Association annual conference, Labour Chancellor Alistair Darling was right in recognising the requirement for a well thought out joined up housing policy, however, delivering it is something else.
“We need a national debate on the issue of housing, not for next year, but for the next 50 years. A debate that shows we understand the importance of different tenures, the role of private landlords and how we can support them in this role.”
At the HSBC Great Housing Debate in April, Yolande Barnes, director of residential research at Savills, supported the view that there would not be a return to “normality” and went on to argue: “It is the income stream of buy-to-let and not the capital investment which is going to be the next big thing in this market and while underlying demand is there it will continue to expand.”
Elsewhere the National Housing Federation, the homeless charity Shelter and the Chartered Institute of Housing published their second Housing Report calling on the government to do more to "get Britain building" to provide thousands of much-needed homes, with the benefit of stimulating the economy.
Peter Williams said: “These recent discussions all support the need for the government to look very seriously at the supply of housing overall, the role of home ownership and the private rented sector as an important part of this.”
