New CEBR analysis for Babelfish finds 1.4m homes could be built on brownfield land, adding 0.9% to GDP a year for a decade. Half already have planning permission.
Politicians ‘twice as Likely’ to Be Landlords
One in nine MPs is a landlord - more than double the national rate. Reform UK tops the party table at 25%, and Nigel Farage owns two rental properties himself.
MPs are more than twice as likely to be landlords than the average person in Britain, Babelfish has found.
Around one in 20 UK adults is a residential landlord but on the benches of the House of Commons that rises to more than one in nine.
There is large variation between the political parties. Reform UK has the highest proportion of landlord MPs, at 25%. That's because two of its eight MPs have declared rental properties in their register of interests. And Nigel Farage is the only party leader who is also a buy-to-let landlord, owning two rental properties as part of his £4million property portfolio.
Next are the Tories, with 20 of their 117 MPs – 17% – registered as landlords. The Lib Dems come third, with 10 out of 71 MPs, or 14%, declaring rental properties.
Labour has the most MP landlords – 38 – but they represent just 9% of their 403 MPs. They include Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves, who started declaring rental income in 2024 after she moved into 11 Downing Street.
The independent group of MPs would top the table if they were a single political party, as 36% – or four out of 11 – independent MPs are registered as landlords.
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Survation polling for Babelfish finds more people back than oppose charging housebuilders council tax on consented land they haven't built on. 49% back brownfield.
New CEBR research for Babelfish: 1.4m brownfield homes would unleash £259bn and return £1.92 for every £1 spent. The big five sit on 869,000 plots instead.
Britain's big five sit on 869,000 plots worth £275bn and build slowly to keep prices high. Start the rates clock the day permission is granted.
Barratt Redrow, Taylor Wimpey, Persimmon, Vistry and Bellway hold 869,000 plots between them. Taylor Wimpey's landbank alone would take 19.5 years to build out.