Lewis pledges a million homes by 2020

The housing minister told a BBC documentary, which airs tonight, “success” would mean the construction of a million homes by the end of this Parliament.

The Conservatives have previously refused to set specific targets for housebuilding, in contrast to the other major parties.

Mr Lewis told BBC’s Inside Out: “By the end of this parliament, success I think would mean that we have seen a build in total of something like a million homes.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Communities and Local Government stressed the government does not set housebuilding targets, and said Mr Lewis’ comments were a response to a specific question.

To meet the target, housebuilding would have to be immediately scaled up to at least 200,000 homes per year – a level of building not seen in Britain since 1989.

In 2014/15, 124,520 homes were completed in England – the highest level since the recession, but still well below the level needed to come close to a million by 2020.

Ruth Davison, director of policy and external affairs at the National Housing Federation, said: “It’s fantastic to see the housing minister show such vision by setting this bold, long-term target to really tackle our housing crisis.

“Housing associations, who built 40% of all homes last year, are ready and willing to step up and work in partnership with the government to deliver.”

Steve Turner, a spokesperson for the Home Builders Federation, said the industry was capable of meeting the target – but the government would need to continue to provide “pro-development policies” and help speed up the planning process.

However, Christine Whitehead, a professor of housing at the London School of Economics, and one of the country’s leading academics on housing, said the target would not be achievable without “massive changes in capacity of all those involved in development”.

She said even if it was met, the target was not enough to hold prices down given household and economic growth.

The Conservatives have previously shied away from specific targets, in contrast to Labour, which pledged to increase housebuilding to 200,000 homes a year by 2020, and the Liberal Democrats, which promised three million homes over 10 years.

The government has only promised to deliver 200,000 starter homes (discount properties for first-time buyers) and 275,000 affordable homes during this parliament.