All the new towns proposed are urban extension or satellite towns to existing cities or towns with unmet demand. We’ve taken the 50 largest urban areas as defined by the Office for National Statistics and then calculated the difference between the median house price and the cost to build a house. This represents the uplift that each home provides, which could be used to build infrastructure for the new town and provide affordable housing. The 10 cities with the highest uplift potential are listed in table 2.
Table 2: Britain’s 10 cities or towns with the largest housing shortages
| Urban Area | Median house price 2024 |
Average house price per m2 |
Estimated construction cost |
Uplift potential |
| London | £535,000 | £6,369 | £249,732 | £285,268 |
| Cambridge | £492,750 | £4,928 | £257,100 | £235,650 |
| Oxford | £450,000 | £4,412 | £273,156 | £176,844 |
| Brighton and Hove | £439,750 | £4,311 | £273,156 | £166,594 |
| Watford | £420,000 | £4,200 | £257,100 | £162,900 |
| Slough | £371,000 | £3,637 | £273,156 | £97,844 |
| Bristol | £347,999 | £3,446 | £257,752 | £90,247 |
| Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole | £343,000 | £3,396 | £257,752 | £85,248 |
| Southend-on-Sea | £340,000 | £3,400 | £257,100 | £82,900 |
| York | £300,000 | £3,371 | £220,453 | £79,547 |
Estimated construction cost is the average regional property size multiplied by average regional construction cost per m²