Taylor Wimpey chief exec calls for evidence as major review kicks off

Planning Houses

Pete Redfern, the chief executive of Taylor Wimpey, has launched his independent review into the decline of home ownership.

Speaking at a launch event in London today, Redfern said his review would report by this September on how to return England to a 鈥渟ustainable level of home ownership鈥.

The review has been commissioned by the Labour party but is independent and will not be funded by Labour.

Home ownership is now at its lowest level for nearly three decades and Redfern鈥檚 review will investigate the reasons behind this decline and suggest policies to reverse the trend.

He will be supported by an expert panel of advisers including Terrie Alafat, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing and a former senior housing civil servant, Dame Kate Barker, former Bank of England MPC member, Andy Gray, former MD of mortgages at Barclays, and Ian Mulheirn, director at Oxford Economics.

Redfern said Barker would publish a 鈥渕ini update鈥 to her influential 2004 study on housing supply as part of his review.

He added the review would look to promote home ownership as 鈥減art of a broad housing market with a broad mix of tenures鈥. He also called on the industry to submit evidence to the review.

John Healey, Labour鈥檚 shadow housing and planning minister, who commissioned the review, said he hoped it would 鈥済ive us all fresh analysis and ideas鈥 and was 鈥渘ot just for Labour policy formation鈥.

He added: 鈥淢ost of us aspire to own our own home, yet there is an increasing divide between the housing haves and have-nots.鈥

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