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Average house price tops £300,000 for first time, says Halifax
(www.bbc.co.uk)
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this post was submitted on 06 Feb 2026
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Yes in theory but ... large private housebuilders buy up land and bank it, leaving it unbuilt to restrict supply and prevent competitors building. This drives up house prices without having to do anything.
Government likes using house prices as a measurement as to how well the economy is doing so they don't want to see house prices fall.
Building a shit load of houses to make them more affordable isn't in the interest of builders or government.
Government can disincentivise this or just expropriate banked land.
Last I read though, land banking isn't as big of a problem as it's made out to be, and is mostly just builders having a pipeline of projects, and buying the land for projects when it's cheapest rather than the day before the spades are ready.
A land value tax should sort it out though.