Housing Needs Assessment 2006 - Westminster City Council

SECTION D: BROADER HOUSING MARKET & FUTURE CHANGESSECTION D: BROADER HOUSING MARKET & FUTURECHANGESThe previous section focused exclusively on housing need and the requirement for affordablehousing. However, in order to fully develop informed housing policies, Local Authorities are alsointerested in housing demand across all tenures. This section thus considers the broader housingmarket in City of Westminster. First household characteristics are examined across all tenures;following on from that we consider the question of how far the housing market is ‘balanced’.The ODPM Guide definition of housing demand is given below.ODPMGuide‘Housing demand refers to the quantity and type/quality of housing whichhouseholds wish to buy or rent and are able to afford. In other words, it takesaccount of both preferences and ability to pay. [Section A2.2 (page 116)]It is important to note that in this section that deals with the broader housing market, studenthouseholds have been included in the analysis.PAGE 103