LABOUR’S new shadow housing minister launched an independent investigation into home ownership yesterday, telling his party conference that buying a house was “part of the British dream.”

In Brighton, John Healey MP told delegates that housebuilder Taylor Wimpey boss Peter Redfern would lead the inquiry and report on his findings next year.

According to figures by the Office of National Statistics (ONS), there has been a sharp decline in first-time and young buyers over the past five years and a constant rise in privately rented accommodation.

Announcing the new measure, Mr Healy said: “I want Labour to carry the hopes of all those wanting — and struggling — to make a good life for themselves and their family.

“More than four in five of us aspire to own our own home.

“Yet home ownership has fallen each and every year over the last five years.

“George Osborne was right to describe this decline in home ownership as a tragedy, but it’s happening on his watch — it’s part of his party’s five years of failure.”

The Labour frontbencher added that the Redfern review would also benefit from the expertise of Chartered Institute of Housing chief executive Terrie Alafat, consultancy Oxford Economics director Ian Mulheirn and financier Credit Suisse senior adviser Kate Barker.

“Enabling more British people to own their own homes is fundamental to creating a flourishing society and is an issue that has a profound impact on the country,” said Mr Redfern.

“This is not about politics — it affects us all. I feel strongly that home ownership has never reached the right level in our society.”