House building was stronger when interest rates were low, but still constrained by bad zoning and labour availability.
We desperately need a pro growth government next. Desperately.
The situation is even more extreme in places like Italy where the young are even less numerous compared to the old than in the UK.
It's the political equivalent to deflation. If every generation is smaller than the last, you end up with a gerontocracy and no-change society. To maintain pro-growth policies, you need a critical mass of young people who embrace change and want to grow. Otherwise you get stuck in a positive feedback loop of more and more power and money concentrated among the old which depresses the birthrate.