Labour’s pledge to build 1.5m new homes set to fall short by 500,000
Just over 200,000 homes have been built in England this year, dwarfing Labor’s pledge to build 1.5 million homes by the next election.
According to the energy identity certificate records, which are mandatory for all new buildings, approximately 204,000 houses were built between January and December this year.
Data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) this week showed the figures were below the average of 300,000 homes needed to be built each year to meet the government’s target.
The data only covers the week from January 5 to December 14, but new registrations around Christmas are consistently low, the figures show.
There were an average of 4,079 EPC registrations each week in the UK this year; This number is slightly lower than the average of 4,206 recorded in 2024, compared to 4,360 in 2023.
Meanwhile, planning permissions issued for new builds have fallen by 15 per cent to their lowest level in 12 years, new figures show.
The Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government is expected to publish a full report for the quarter towards the end of January.
Planning applications have also fallen, according to the latest data released this week.
Just 208,000 homes were permitted in the 12 months to September; this number is down 15 percent from 245,000 in September 2024.
The latest provisional figures were the lowest since 2013, when planning permission was granted for 205,000 units. Figures given have been rounded to the nearest thousand.
A spokesman for the ministry said Times He said the latest house building and planning approval data “sheds a light on the broken planning system we have inherited”.
He said: “Fixing this won’t happen overnight. We’ve already completely overhauled the system to turn this around and build 1.5 million homes.”
On Tuesday the department promised hundreds of thousands of homes would be built thanks to changes to planning rules as it launched a major consultation on the revamped National Planning Policy Framework.
The reforms will build on changes made last year to reinstate mandatory housing targets and prioritize development on brownfield sites.
Housing Secretary Steve Reed said: “We’ve already laid the groundwork for building in Britain, but our planning overhaul was only the first step in solving the housing crisis we face. And today, I’m going further than ever to reach 1.5 million homes and put the keys to homeownership into the hands of thousands more hard-working people and families.”
