That almost the first words uttered by Gordon Brown as he ascended to the premiership were about housing came as something as a surprise to the property industry.

Too many people have been generating wealth from the 13-year-old housing boom, for there to have been very much energy left for questions about the would-be house buyers on low incomes who have failed to secure a ticket to the party.

But the whispers of concern have, in a year of runaway house-price inflation in key markets like London, become a roar. And with the announcement today of three bills to increase the number of homes and to smooth out snarls in the planning and property development system, Mr Brown has indicated that he is minded to act.

The release of 550 brownfield sites — previously used by government agencies like the Ministry of Defence and the NHS — will provide space for 100,000 of the extra 250,000 homes (to make 3 million in total) he aims to have built by 2020. This won’t be enough to solve the chronic undersupply of about 60,000 houses a year, but it will help to delay difficult decisions about greenbelt classification.

But the Government must untangle the sale, planning and development process, which quite routinely sees schemes of any size take five years to be agreed.

Planning reform has already absorbed countless consultation hours, with a raft of further reports to come, while producing mostly confusion. Still the final shape of the new rules remains uncertain: it will, Brown asserts, combine increased speed with greater consultation. We shall see.

Brown sees local authorities and housing associations as the key to more homes — and not just for key workers, who have been the main beneficiaries for their schemes so far. This is good news for the many who have simply been priced out of their local market.

Mr Brown however offers no joy this year for property companies which believe that they can solve the housing crisis by creating a lower-cost, more appealling private rented sector. The focus remains on ownership, not renting.

Long-term fixed rate mortgage deals, of 20 years or more, are part of Brown’s plan. When this was first mooted when Brown was at the Treasury, little interest ensued. Staying for life no longer appeals to most modern buyers, in part because they are forced to start small to get a foot on the ladder. But in the current environment of rapid rate rises, buyers may start to sense the benefit of locking in.

The property industry - developers, lenders and agents - are making small, approving noises. But the lack of progress on Hips, now just a few weeks from attempted introduction No 3, under Brown’s watch will have been a disappointment. The hope had been that the Prime Minister would have been unable to resist the decision to scrap the troubled scheme — but, as ever, more rules, regulations and initiatives are the Brown way forward.

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