MIGRATING Northerners are not to blame for the housing crisis in the South, a report for the York-based Joseph Rowntree Foundation claimed today.

Hundreds of thousands of new homes are needed across the South to cope with a rising demand for housing.

Many have blamed the pressure on people migrating south from the North and other parts of the UK, perhaps in search of work.

But the foundation says such widespread views are mostly a myth.

Its report, based on an analysis of population trends, confirms that the demand for extra homes over the next two decades will fall disproportionately on the south-east, where population is expected to grow by 50,000 a year.

But it says such migrants play only a minor part in raising housing demand.

The foundation says its analysis shows that migration out of London and a bigger-than-expected increase in the resident population are the major reasons why regions closest to the capital are under pressure to expand.

"Only eight per cent of population growth in the South outside London between 1991 and 1998 was attributable to internal migration from the North, Midlands, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

"By contrast, movement out of London contributed 50 per cent of growth, plus another 25 per cent due to 'natural' increase in the resident population."

But at the same time, London was the premier destination for international migration from within and beyond the European Union, with migrants coming from extremes of rich and poor.

Foundation director Richard Best said the analysis had shown that attempts to block migration from the North to the South would be misconceived.

"Generally, there is no escaping the conclusion that population pressures will remain intense in the southern regions, and that London will be unable to meet all its housing needs within its own boundaries.

"The choices and decisions that confront central government and local planners do not grow easier."