Downes is talking shite, as always, so here is the reality: 1) The CPS briefing behind his £19,370 says the lack of housing is the main driver of the crisis, and that even with zero net migration since 1997 England would still be 2.4 million homes short of the Western European average. 2) The CMA found in 2024 that housebuilders build fewer homes than is socially optimal, at the pace homes sell without cutting prices. It also found that the biggest of them made profits well above their cost of capital through the 2010s, partly thanks to ultra-low interest rates and Help to Buy. The CMA then investigated 7 of the largest over suspected sharing of agreed sale prices and buyer incentives with each other. It accepted the voluntary commitments, including the £100m ex gratia payment, and closed the case with no finding on whether competition law was broken. 3) Bank of England economists found that the fall in real interest rates more than explains the rise in UK house prices relative to incomes from 1985 to 2018. Meanwhile, in 2024-25 England built 10,807 new social rent homes and sold off 13,673. It is easier to blame immigrants than to go after the developers and the banks who make a fortune out of people's need for a home.

The establishment will look you in the eye and tell you there is no link between immigration and house prices. A recent report from the Centre for Policy Studies found that immigration since 2020 pushed house prices up by £19,370 compared with a scenario of zero net migration. The reason for higher prices is simple. Demand is outstripping supply, and nearly 100% of our population growth is driven by immigration. We cannot go on having average house prices at 8-10x average wages. You can tinker with planning rules and tax incentives all you like, but if you want young Brits to be able to buy homes and raise families, we need remigration.