The number of new home approvals fell to its lowest level in a decade, underscoring the challenges the government will face in delivering on their ambitious housebuilding targets.
According to the Home Builders Federation, just 53,379 new homes were approved in the three months to June, the lowest quarterly total since 2014.
In the year to June, approvals dropped 12 per cent to just over 230,000 units, the lowest figure for any 12-month period in the last decade.
“As a result of the previous government’s approach to house building, in particular with regards to planning, the number of permissions for both building sites and actual homes in England have been on a downward trajectory for the last two years,” the HBF said.
Neil Jefferson, chief executive of the industry group, said the fall “starkly illustrates the challenge the new Government faces to boost housing supply”.
The steepest drops came in London and the East Midlands, where the number of approvals dropped more than 40 per cent in the last year.
The new government has put housebuilding at the centre of its economic agenda, pledging to build 1.5m new homes across the course of the parliament. This would require annual rates of housebuilding to jump to the highest level since the late 1960s.
Since entering office the government has announced major reforms to the planning system to help achieve their ambitious target, including re-instating mandatory targets for local authorities and a review of the green belt.
However, experts are sceptical about whether Labour will be able to meet their targets. The HBF noted that planning permissions would need to increase by 55 per cent to reach the annual target of 370,000 new homes.
The Resolution Foundation has pointed out that the last time annual housebuilding rates approached the government’s targets, social housing made up two-fifths of new homes.
Poor housing supply is widely seen as the primary cause behind the UK’s housing crisis. The average UK home is now worth 8.3 times the average annual salary, up from 4.5 in 2002.
Between 1970 and 2023, construction of new houses has fallen by 46 per cent, according to Britain in a Changing Europe.