It is impossible to predict ‘with any confidence' that ambitious targets to build 300,000 new homes a year by the mid-2020s will ever be achieved, according to the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think-tank.

In a post-Budget analysis, IFS associate director Robert Joyce said the Budget plans were ‘not a housebuilding programme' but only an ‘emphasis on facilitation,' adding: ‘The targets are ambitious.