The Housing & Finance Institute researches on a board range of housing and finance related matters, including on budget matters and through our business market sentiment work. Our research and publications respond to issues arising in the marketplace, business and local government.
The HFi research papers have been extensively covered in the national and trade press.
Publications have included the following:
The Pre Budget Briefing 2025 - download the paper HERE This important Budget Statement is made against the backdrop of some of the worst results for housing delivery in the last 50 years outside of the credit crunch and its immediate aftermath. The Housing & Finance Institute has produced...
Angela Rayner's resignation last week saw the appointment of the Rt Hon Steve Reed OBE MP as Housing Secretary. The question on everyone's mind is whether this will herald a change in government policy for housing delivery? Steve Reed takes over the brief against a backdrop of some of the worst hou...
On 11 June 2025 the Chancellor will deliver the Spending Review. This year's Spending Review will set out in detail three years of plans for department-level day-to-day spending (covering 2026–27, 2027–28 and 2028–29) and four years of plans for investment spending (extending to 2...
What to look out for in the first Budget of the new Government On 30 October 2024 the first Budget of the new Government since the general election will be delivered. Budget watch: what is the Budget likely to cover? The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has pointed out that the Autumn Budget co...
The Housing & Finance Institute urges a "Budget for Housing" to solve Britain's Housing Crisis The Housing and Finance Institute has called for the Chancellor to make this budget a "Budget for Housing" to solve Britain's Housing Crisis. The cross-party institute has set out a twelve-poin...
Operation Homemaker - March 2023 Operation Homemaker is a Housing & Finance Institute project. The Operation Homemaker Report can be downloaded here: Download Operation Homemaker Operation Homemaker is a call to deliver 100,000 affordable homes in a year and a half, prioritising housing p...
The Housing Finance Institute (HFI) and Localis today publish a 30-page blueprint designed to stimulate a new generation of council homes authored by Peter Bill and Jackie Sadek. 'Public Rental Homes – fresh perspectives' provides a solution to the challenge that just 6,000 of the 52,000 new ...
A radical shift in housing policy is needed to create Good Homes for every generation through a dramatic expansion of both social rented homes and home ownership. This is set out in a major new report today from the Housing & Finance Institute and housing association, Radian, A Time for Good ...
This is a quick guide to the 2017 Autumn Budget. Housing is set to dominate the 2017 Autumn Budget. Yet there is more than one type of budget where housing can be key. In this paper we have identified six budget areas and we will be looking at the balance of policy and financial measures within e...
The HFi's Recommendations report is released for consultation today (14 November 2017). It follows a six-month government backed pilot research programme which brought together key players from private and public sectors. The research programme was launched in response to evidence in previ...
This is a quick guide to the green belt. The guide started its life from a question that the institute was asked by a council: is the green belt forever, even if it no longer serves its purpose? The green belt is an emotional as well as a highly technical topic. Like all such emotional a...
The HFi's report calls for a radical planning shake-up to solve London's housing crisis that would professionalise decision-making in the planning system, increase the supply of land suitable for house building and allow substantially greater densities of homes in the capital. The paper sets out ...
Britain is still building New homes starts are the fifth best in a quarter of a century There is no evidence of a Brexit wobble London is lagging A sharp decline in last year's housing figures may herald a longer-term decline London may need additional and special measures to reverse it...
June 2017 has been one of the saddest in housing for many decades. A few days ago, a tower block which had dominated the West London landscape for over forty years was consumed in a devastating fire. The Grenfell death toll has reached 79. The dead and injured over 100 men, women and children. Th...
Housebuilding can be a great boost to a local economy, as well as the national economy. It has been assessed that every £1 spent on construction generates a further £2.09 on economic activity, 'higher than the return to most other sectors including advanced manufacturing and finance...
The HFi have released Research Highlights 2016: Conference Special Edition which is a compilation of all our research and commentary work over the last year. It addresses key housing and infrastructure questions such as: How do we build more homes, faster? Does London have capacity to build a ...
Britain is building again, but not where most people expect. You might think that housebuilding is dominated by the big cities and bustling metropolitan areas. But it isn't. Building, and opportunity to build, is dominated by Britain's coastal communities, the country villages and market towns, post...
The theme of this report is to identify the issues which are holding back housebuilding across the country, and to make recommendations to help unlock a greater efficiency in housing delivery. The report found that that there is a genuine cross-party consensus for a step change in housebuilding. Gi...
In estate regeneration and in their role as Housing Delivery Enablers, councils have an array of options to support housebuilding, create value and make schemes happen. Across the country councils have worked creatively and proactively with their skills and resources to bring forward housebuilding...
As London elects a new Mayor in 2016, housing is set to be a centrepiece of the next London Mayoral term. Or is it? This new research from the Housing & Finance Institute explores the diversity of London's housing Boroughs and recommends: Full Housing Devolution to the Boroughs: Full direc...
