Politicians have been talking about delivering 300,000 homes a year for a long time. But they have never been honest about a simple fact – the vast majority of these homes are not built by the state. They are built by private companies backed by institutional investors and public markets. This fundamental truth underpins the entire housing delivery system in the UK, and yet it is rarely acknowledged in the public debate. Unless these companies can make a profit, they are not going to take the risks involved in development.

Whether it is building a loft, a railway or a nuclear power station, construction of any kind carries risk. The problem is that over the last decade a growing opposition to companies making profit has largely driven investors away from the market. That sentiment has been compounded by declining sales rates, higher taxes on development, and above all, a knee-jerk regulatory response around safety following Grenfell. Together, these forces have combined to put the brakes on development in recent years.

Although planning reform is often touted as the silver bullet, the reality is it is not. The narrative around planning has become a convenient distraction from more politically uncomfortable truths.

Yes, the planning system is slow, local politics dominate, and councils can block or delay schemes. But planning is not the single biggest barrier to delivery.

Molior’s latest report reveals there are 281,000 unbuilt consents in London alone. Critics will say this is due to housebuilders land banking, but that is utter nonsense. These schemes remain unbuilt because they would be loss-making today due to onerous taxes, high levels of affordable housing requirements and infrastructure levies being charged against them. That figure represents not just homes on paper but also lost investment, lost jobs and lost growth for the wider economy.