Government measures to deal with the housing shortage won’t prevent rents from rising and staying high, according to Louis Christopher of SQM Research and Richard Temlett of Charter Keck Cramer.

They say the housing supply target will take years to impact – and is unlikely to be achieved.

Rents rose further in the past month, recording the biggest monthly increase since April, with the number of vacant rental homes dropping again. “There’s an ongoing undersupply and too many renters needing a home,” says Christopher.

Temlett says delivering 1.2 million homes over five years will be a challenge.  “They need to incentivise the market by removing taxes and charges, fast-tracking and streamlining planning, and allowing foreign and local investors back into the new-housing market,” he says.

CoreLogic’s Tim Lawless says the government has a five-year target that has never been achieved before. “At the height of the construction boom during the five years to 2019, only 1.086 million dwellings were delivered,” he says.

The decision to cap rent increases to once a year is unlikely to ease rental pressure, as this is what normally happens anyway. “Most landlords are already doing that and the most significant changes in rents occur in between tenancies anyway,” Lawless says.