"The latest planning figures are disastrous for an industry and a government looking to increase housing supply over the coming years"
- Neil Jefferson - Home Builders Federation
The number of new homes granted planning permission in England has fallen to its lowest level in more than a decade, with just 39,170 homes approved in the first quarter of 2025. This marks a 55% fall from the previous quarter and a 32% decline compared to the same period in 2024.
The figures, published in the latest Housing Pipeline report by the Home Builders Federation (HBF) and based on Glenigan data, reveal that Q1 2025 saw the third-lowest quarterly total for housing approvals since records began in 2006.
The annual number of homes approved in the year to Q1 2025 dropped to 225,067, a 7% decline year-on-year and the lowest rolling annual figure recorded since 2013. According to HBF, this figure represents just 61% of the government’s stated ambition to reach 370,000 homes annually, based on combined local authority targets.
In terms of the number of individual sites receiving approval, the situation appears even more stark. Just 2,010 projects were approved in Q1 2025 – the lowest quarterly figure since records began nearly two decades ago. The rolling annual total of 9,275 approved sites is also a record low and continues a twelve-quarter streak of declining approvals.
HBF warned that the fall in planning approvals is already affecting delivery and undermining the government’s housing targets. The organisation estimates that current output is around 200,000 homes per year, meaning the sector is already 100,000 short of the pace required to meet the 1.5 million homes target set ahead of the next election.
In a statement, HBF said: “Estimates suggest that we are currently delivering around 200,000 new homes a year, meaning that as we approach the anniversary of the election, we are already 100,000 behind the run rate needed to hit the 1.5 million target. With housing construction levels flatlining at best and planning permissions for new sites and new homes continuing to fall, the likelihood of imminent increases seems remote.”
“The latest planning figures are disastrous for an industry and a government looking to increase housing supply over the coming years. With current supply flatlining and permissions for homes to be built over the next few years plummeting unless urgent interventions are made, there seems little chance of us building the homes we know are desperately needed," explained HBF chief executive Neil Jefferson, "Whilst the government’s ambition and the swift action on planning were very welcome, increasing housing delivery requires much more than good intentions and planning reform,"
He continued, "Ministers have to address the fact that potential homeowners are unable to buy due to the lack of affordable mortgage lending and the absence for the first time in decades of any government support scheme (for first-time buyers). Similarly, it needs to ensure housing associations are financially able to purchase the affordable homes house builders deliver. Without a functioning market for private or affordable homes, it is impossible for industry to deliver them,"
"Planning permissions and housebuilding levels will not increase unless ministers work with industry and tackle the issues preventing companies from pressing the accelerator and investing in the sites, skills and supply chains needed to build the homes the country needs.”
Allan Wilen, economics director at Glenigan, added, “The drop in detailed planning approvals has been widespread but especially marked for larger projects of 125 homes or more. Whilst Glenigan has seen an increase in planning applications in recent months, the current decline appears to reflect earlier declines in planning applications during 2023 and the first half of last year,"
"This underlines the long lead time to secure residential planning consent and the need to streamline the planning system.”
