Finance

According to the Institute of Public Policy Research we need to build 230,000 new homes a year. Take a look at housing waiting lists and we need many more. In fact a board member of one provincial housing association told me recently that, ‘If every one of our 5,000 tenants moved out tomorrow, we could fill our homes straight away from people on the waiting list!’

It’s only a month until chancellor George Osborne sets out his 2013 budget. Once again it is expected that it will focus on growth and no doubt contain some new wheezes to lift the economy out of its prolonged stagnation.