Lenders have been asking the government to make policy commitments regarding the housing market since the date of the Autumn Statement was announced.

At the conference, the prime minister said: “…It’s just not right that the housing market continues to fail working people either.

“Ask almost any question about social fairness or problems with our economy, and the answer so often comes back to housing.

“High housing costs – and the growing gap between those on the property ladder and those who are not – lie at the heart of falling social mobility, falling savings and low productivity.

“We will do everything we can to help people financially so they can buy their own home.

“That’s why Help to Buy and Right to Buy are the right things to do.”

The prime minster mentioned the Help to Buy scheme despite a letter (dated 29^th September 2016) from chancellor Phillip Hammond to the governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney announcing that Help to Buy’s “specific purpose … has now been successfully achieved” and that “it will close to new loans at the end of 2016 as planned”.

Mrs May went on to say: “…As Sajid [Javid, communities secretary] said in his bold speech on Monday, there is an honest truth we need to address.

“We simply need to build more homes.

“This means using the power of government to step in and repair the dysfunctional housing market.

“It means using public sector land for more and faster housebuilding.

“It means encouraging new technologies that will help us to get more houses built faster.

“And putting in more government investment too.

“It means stepping up and doing what’s right for Britain.”

This announcement comes as the minister of state for housing and planning Gavin Barwell admits that the country is still not building as many houses as the government would like.