NEW RESEARCH shows that Reading is one of the boroughs that has seen the highest level of residential housing development.
The borough has seen 370 hectares of land developed out of 4,040, 9.2% of its total area.
This places it below towns such as Luton, the most developed local authority with respect to residential properties, accounting for 10.1% of total land area, followed by Leicester (10%), Blackpool (9.8%), Watford (9.8%) and Worthing (9.6%).
The research by Unlatch, a new homes sales progression and aftercare platform for developers and housebuilders, analysed each area of England based on the total land area in hectares and what percentage of this land area has been attributed to developed use for residential properties.
Overall, it estimates that just 1.1% of total land area is used for housing, with the south east having some of the highest levels, at 1.4%. London is the highest, with 10.1% developed.
Lee Martin, Head of UK for Unlatch, said: “There seems to be a common misconception amongst the public that the nation is bursting at the seams when it comes to the number of homes already built and that we simply have no available land left to address the current housing crisis.
“This simply isn’t the case and, in fact, land utilised for residential development currently accounts for just over one per cent of the nation’s total land area.”
He said that in major urban areas, this percentage is far higher where the demand for housing is greater due to a larger population.
“In some areas, residential development accounts for a tiny fraction of total land available and it’s ironically in these areas where current homeowners are often most passionately against the construction of new homes,” he added.
