Thursday’s general election presents the main political parties with an opportunity to address voters’ concerns about housing, and not just focus on attempts to leave the EU.

With UK house prices and rents continuing to rise, owed largely to the imbalance between property supply and demand, housing needs to be top of the agenda for the incoming prime minister, according to Apropos by DJ Alexander.

Whichever party wins office, the property management firm believes that they need to immediately respond to the UK’s growing housing problem and develop a coordinated response which involves building more social housing, maintaining and developing a better private rented sector (PRS), and encouraging affordable home ownership.

David Alexander, managing director of Apropos by DJ Alexander Ltd, said: “Housing has become one of the key issues in the UK as the population increases, the number of smaller households rises, and the number of older people increases all of which has ensured that demand far outstrips supply.

“There needs to be a coordinated and unified approach to resolving this issue which involves the three main pillars of the housing market: home-owners; the private rented sector; and social housing.

“With the UK population set to increase by over 300,000 people a year for the next 25 years demand will continue to be strong and rather than set one group against the other the market needs to respond as a whole.”