The chapters in this book were originally commissioned for the spring 2005 conference of the Housing Studies Association to mark the anniversaries of two major milestones in housing policy in the UK: the 20th anniversary of the publication of the Inquiry into British housing, chaired by the Duke of Edinburgh (NFHA, 1985), and the 25th anniversary of the introduction of the Right to Buy. Both of these events have had a significant impact on the development of housing policy in Britain since 1980, influencing the pattern of tenure and subsidy in existence today.

Looking at the way the housing world has changed in the past 25 years, as Alan Murie, Richard Best and other contributors have done in this book, one may wonder how much of what has occurred in that time could have been predicted in 1980. As Mark Stephens and colleagues observe in their review of housing policy between 1975 and 2000 (ODPM, 2005a), many policies have had unintended consequences, for example, the Right to Buy and homelessness legislation contributed to the residualisation of social rented housing; while other policies may also present trade-offs, such as the growth of financial risk for borrowers alongside increased choice as a result of the liberalisation of the mortgage market. Moreover, new forces and unexpected drivers of change may emerge over time. Economic collapse, climate change and new patterns of migration could all impact in unanticipated ways on the UK housing system. Predicting or speculating about future developments in the next 15-20 years is a challenging exercise. While there appears to be consensus about some aspects of the context and overall trends, there are many areas about which we can only guess. The chapters in this book have presented a variety of visions and possible scenarios of how the future might be. On the whole, the possible futures have tended to be dystopian, and there seems little cause for optimism.

Although coming from a range of backgrounds, academic, policy and practitioner, our contributors demonstrate considerable agreement on some key aspects of the future. While there may be differences of focus and detail, it seems that all our contributors agree on the continuing importance of social, economic and demographic factors, and the interaction between them, as the key drivers of change. Where there is debate, it is around the relative importance of these forces over time, and about outcomes.