Housing Secretary Steve Reed wants Britain to "build, baby, build" towards the government's flagship 1.5 million homes target by the next election. But housebuilding in England has slowed to its lowest level in nine years, with the number of homes built falling by 6% to 208,600 in the year to March 2025. A combination of rising building costs and weakening house prices has left "half of the country unviable (for development projects) and the other half of the country unaffordable", Steve Turner,