Robert Jenrick He forecasted house-price growth of 4% in 2020, despite the wider economic gloom, and anticipated that activity would continue strongly into 2021 before flattening, with further growth to come as the economy reverts to pre-Covid levels by 2023. Planning reform, the repurposing of surplus retail space, and sustainability would all impact supply, while limited mortgage availability would increasingly push first-time buyers towards help-to-buy, shared ownership, and renting, he said. When the minister arrived, he reassured delegates that housebuilding and construction would lie at the centre of the UK’s economic recovery. Having failed to mention build-to-rent in his recently published planning-reform white paper, he risked compounding the offence by also neglecting to mention it in his speech.