Dr. Rachel Slaymaker:

The key thing is that rent pressure zones are calibrated very tightly at the moment. Rent increases must be 2% or lower. They are tight caps. That is likely to be acting as a barrier towards potential investment and new construction. As the Deputy has said, however, it is one factor and there are a lot of other factors going on, such as high construction costs as a result of inflation and high interest rates. It is difficult to disentangle them. While rent caps are probably acting as a barrier at present, that does not mean that simply removing the caps or loosening them would suddenly lead to an influx of supply without addressing the other issues around planning delays and interest rates. It is one factor.