The government’s goal of building 300,000 homes a year from the mid-2020s appeared to be thrown into doubt after housing minister Kit Malthouse referred to it as a “mythical target”.

Speaking yesterday at an event in London to launch the Distinctively Local report on how to build better housing, Malthouse said factors such as demand, the need for better design and the introduction of new technologies including modular housing and modern methods of construction meant the UK stood on the “brink of a golden age for housing”.

But he described the target of 300,000 homes being built a year from halfway through the next decade as “mythical”.