Acknowledgements

This annual compilation of statistical data would not have been possible without the substantial help and guidance of a host of civil servants, at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, the Department of Work and Pensions, The Treasury, the National Assembly for Wales , the Scottish and Northern Ireland Executive Offices, the Office for National Statistics, and elsewhere. Similar assistance was given from the Council of Mortgage Lenders, the Housing Corporation, Communities Scotland and many others. The enormous help they have all once again provided in the compilation of this year's edition of the Review is most readily and gratefully acknowledged.

Much of the statistical data presented here is generally available in a variety of published, or publicly available, statistical series, and sources are comprehensively acknowledged against each table in the Review. This year thanks are again due to Alan Lewis for his help in updating much of the Compendium of tables in the Review. The editor is also particularly grateful to the direct contributors to this year's edition of the Review: Hal Pawson at Heriot-Watt University , Edinburgh; John Perry at the Chartered Institute of Housing; and Sarah Monk at Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research. This year the Review has been again been produced jointly by the Council of Mortgage Lenders and the Chartered Institute of Housing. Thanks are thus variously due to Alan Dearling, John Perry, Jeremy Spencer and Peter Williams for their hard work, support and creative contributions in producing this edition of the Review.

Thanks are also due to my colleagues at University of York , Jane Allen and Nicholas Pleace, for their work on the website for the Review.

There are many more agencies to thank for their financial support for the Review this year, including the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, the Housing Corporation, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the National Assembly for Wales , the Scottish and Northern Ireland Executive Offices, Communities Scotland and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive. The support of all these agencies for the Review, representing all parts of the UK , is particularly welcome given that from time to time the Review will inevitably raise issues that are challenging for one or another of those agencies.

Thanks are also due to Bank of Scotland Corporate, who have again contributed to the costs of producing this year's edition of the Review, and Centre for Housing Policy, University of York , who have this year contributed to the costs of the Contemporary issues section of the Review.

For all the diverse help provided, and despite every attempt that has been madeto check and double check all the figures included in the Review and the construction put upon them, the final responsibility for any errors, omissions or misjudgements are entirely the responsibility of the editor. The views expressed in the Review are the responsibility of the respective authors.

September 2005

Professor Steve Wilcox

Centre for Housing Policy, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD

Telephone: 01823 323891 Email: stevewpwilcox@aol.com