Research by Reading University’s Professor of Urban Property Economics Michael Ball has revealed that labour and skills shortages identified in the Barker Review is not a risk to the industries ability to increase housing supply. Ball said: “That labour might constrain house building in my view is not a big concern. It is more to do with land.” The report shows that an output of 250,000 homes per year would require 20,000 new UK entrants to the housebuilding workforce. An output of 300,000 new homes would require 80,000 new workers. The report says: “These numbers are substantial but not impossible to achieve. While training issues are important in the expansion of housebuilding, it can be concluded at the same time that skills shortages are unlikely to represent a barrier to expansion of the housebuilding industry.”