Grants to fund the delivery of new affordable housing will have to increase significantly if demand is to be met in the coming decade, according to industry experts.

With a new prime minister set to move into Downing Street in a matter of weeks, sector figures are keenly waiting to see where housebuilding will sit in the new administration’s spending pecking order.

Studies by the National Housing Federation (NHF) suggest that solving the UK’s housing crisis will require £14.6bn of capital spending a year over the next 10 years, even at today’s prices equivalent to more than 10 times the £1.7bn allocated for capital housing grants in this year’s government’s spending plans.