The UK’s housing market will be a major battleground in the general election – with the main political parties set to outline their plans over the next few weeks, including measure to address the existing crisis.

The Tories and Labour will be grilled on their plans to support homeowners and renters over the next six weeks with research revealing that housing will be one of the key issues that will help decide the general election.

Analysis by the market research firm Ipsos shows that British voters are most concerned about the economy, with healthcare, immigration and housing also ranking highly.

From rental reforms to big numbers around housebuilding, the main political parties will each set out rival plans to address the existing housing crisis over the next few weeks, with some much-needed bold ideas needed.

David Thomas, chief executive of Barratt Developments, commented: “It is clear that the housing crisis will be front and centre in this election campaign and we look forward to seeing positive policies from all parties aimed at increasing housebuilding, supporting people onto the property ladder and helping the industry to build strong sustainable communities.”

Wayne Douglas, managing director at City & Country, said: “Increasing housing supply, planning reforms and the battle over building on green belt land will take more than a few new policy initiatives whichever government comes into power. The new government must address the skills shortages that are causing the problem, such as a lack of experienced planners and a lack of skilled tradespeople.”

Maria Harris, chair of the Open Property Data Association (OPDA), remarked: “Whichever party forms the next government, we continue to deal with the challenges of a broken housing market. New ministers will need to tackle these urgently.”

Robin Thomas, consultant at Recoco Property Search, noted: “We anticipate a repeat of what happened after the General Election in 2019 with a Government given a clear majority and thereby giving the property market the confidence it currently lacks. If this happens, we will see a much more active property market in the late summer and autumn.”

Take the party politics out of housing, says property commentator