Sign of the times: Buyers are struggling

The public and private sectors should help employees finance their housing according to a new study.

Britain is building fewer houses annually than in 1924 and is achieving less than half its average output during much of the 1950s and '60s according to research by the Institute for Public Policy Research.

Many workers on moderate incomes of up to £25,000-a-year struggle to buy homes, are excluded from social housing and find private renting an unattractive last resort.

The think-tank, in its report "Squeezed Out", suggests employer support through wage additions, provision of interest free loans for a home deposit, or imaginative work-based savings schemes could be one solution.

The IPPR, which will be addressed by housing minister Lord Falconer today, also concluded that the lack of affordable housing is leading to acute recruitment problems "which employers in both the private and public sector ignore at their peril".It called on employers to consider housing strategies for their employees and work more effectively with local authorities in developing housing strategies and contributing to forward-planning.Gathering more accurate information, particularly of local housing markets, is vital if government is to find better solutions to a growing problem the institute claimed. It also concluded that ministers need to take a regional perspective in finding solutions as housing markets do not fit within local authority boundaries.