Data from the Office for National Statistics has revealed that Belfast is the UK’s fastest-growing city, but it has built the fewest new homes relative to population growth: just one new home for every 23 new residents.

The Northern Irish capital is followed by Luton and Manchester, where one home is built for every eight people.

Britain’s fastest-growing towns and cities

Blackpool ranks as Britain’s fastest-shrinking city, followed by Blackburn and Sunderland.

Research has also indicated a north-south divide, with eight of the top 10 slowest-growing towns or cities located in the North, while eight of the top 10 fastest-growing towns and cities were found in the South.

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Britain’s slowest growing towns and cities

Ross Andrews, director of Minerva Lending, said: “We’ve known for many years that the housing supply situation in Britain is poor, but this road to ruin of inadequate building is going to end the dream of home ownership for many millions of people over the next 20 years.

“With the Budget just two weeks away, the chancellor should consider extreme measures to boost building before the housing crisis we all recognise spirals further out of control.

“Light-touch planning permission for office-to-resi conversions is having a growing impact on the sector, but it can only be one ingredient in a solution capable of defeating a problem as big as a broken housing market exacerbated by the cyclical nature of housebuilding.”