Annual pace points to the lowest total since 2014
Housebuilding in England is on track to reach its lowest level in more than 10 years, dealing a significant blow to prime minister Keir Starmer’s pledge to deliver 1.5m new homes, according to new data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Figures from the ONS show that just 175,290 homes were completed in England during Labour’s first 15 months in office – well below the 300,000 homes per year required to meet the government’s target. The figure also marks a 14% decline from the previous five quarters, according to Bloomberg.
The slowdown has sharpened in recent months. Only 30,880 dwellings were completed in the three months to September, the weakest quarter since the depths of the pandemic. Based on the pace recorded across the first three quarters of 2025, England is projected to record just over 130,000 annual completions for the year – the lowest since 2014.
Housing starts have also stalled. The ONS figures show only 31,420 new dwellings were started in the third quarter, a drop of 350 compared with the previous three months and below the pre-pandemic average.
Builders have struggled with weak demand, elevated borrowing rates, and higher input costs, Bloomberg reported. Labour’s pledge requires construction to rebound to levels not seen since the late 1960s, when housebuilding peaked under prime minister Harold Wilson. The government has said it is relying on wide-ranging planning reforms to deliver that increase, though analysts note that last year’s weak figures have raised the bar even higher.
Numbers paint a bleak picture
Official figures show just 208,600 net additional dwellings were created in England in 2024/25, down 6% from 221,409 the previous year – the lowest figure for a financial year since 2015/16.
Florence Eshalomi, chair of the Housing, Communities and Local Government (HCLG) Select Committee, responded to those figures with a pointed assessment. “The statistics show that only 208,600 new homes were delivered in the year to March 2025, continuing over a decade of failure to build anything like the homes we need,” she said, urging the government to bring forward its long-delayed long-term housing strategy.
The pipeline of future projects also gives little cause for confidence. Between January and September 2025, planning permission was granted for just 209,781 homes – the lowest annual total since 2013. The housebuilding subindex fell to 33.5 in December 2025, its lowest level since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Government doubles down on planning overhaul
In December, the government moved to address the crisis through a sweeping rewrite of planning rules. The changes aimed to streamline the planning system by saying “yes” to brownfield development, higher-density building around train stations, and more blocks of flats, while simplifying biodiversity rules for smaller sites and creating fast-track routes for approved housing projects.
The National Audit Office announced last week that the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government plans to launch the National Housing Delivery Fund, which will comprise grant funding through Homes England alongside loans and investments channelled through a new National Housing Bank – a subsidiary of Homes England.
