Welsh Conservatives pledge to double number of new houses

The Welsh Conservatives have pledged to double the number of new homes built every year if they are in power after the next assembly election.

Around 6,000 homes were built in the 12 months to last June, down 19 per cent on the year before.

The Welsh Tories say they would aim to see the number built rise to 12,000 every year.

Conservative AM David Melding said a crisis in housing will only be tackled if parties agree on ambitious targets.

The Welsh Conservatives will launch its strategy on housing on Monday, with the target at the centre of it.

It wants to create an environment where its easier for private firms, housing associations and councils to be able to build new homes.

Policies are understood to include scrapping land transaction tax - the Welsh version of stamp duty - for first time buyers on properties up to £250,000, lifting borrowing restrictions on social housing and a statutory register of suitable brownfield sites (areas previously built upon, often for industrial use).

The party, if it wins the next election, proposes to launch a programme to build 12,000 homes every year during the next assembly term, which runs from 2021 to 2026, and 100,000 homes over ten years.

The Welsh Government is currently working towards a target of building 20,000 affordable homes in the current assembly term, which ends in 2021.

It has said it is spending £1.7bn on housing.

Speaking to the Sunday Politics Wales programme, Welsh Conservative housing spokesman Mr Melding said that "the housing crisis will only be tackled if all the major parties agree on an ambitious new target for house-building".

Voices from the housing sector said they believe the headline target of building 12,000 homes a year is achievable.

"As it currently stands only five companies in Wales build 80% of all new homes," said Ifan Glyn from the Federation of Master Builders Cymru.

"We believe by unlocking the potential of small and medium sized construction firms by making planning less complex and less expensive and by increasing access to affordable finance and by making more viable land available then we'll unlock that potential," he added.

Clarissa Corbisiero-Peters from Community Housing Cymru, which represents the social housing sector in Wales, said it would like 75,000 homes built by 2036.

"We're up for it but we can't do it on our own so we need to work with our local government partners, our partners in health and our partners in Welsh Government to be able to do that," she said.

Watch Sunday Politics, BBC One Wales, 1100GMT, 2 December.