Housing · Supply · England · 2024–25

Supply: where does the housing pipeline stall?

England added 208,600 homes in 2024–25, the fewest since 2015–16, well short of the roughly 300,000 a year implied by the government's aim of 1.5 million homes this Parliament. Permission is only one step: land, infrastructure, finance, builders and buyers all have to line up before a home is finished.

Evidence last reviewed 3 October 2026

Permission is one step; a completed home is the outcome

HOUSE-03 · Where can a home get stuck?

Five steps, each with its own bottleneck

A mechanism diagram, not a funnel: the steps are equal-sized because the counts at each step come from different years and cohorts and cannot be chained into conversion rates.

From land to an occupied home

1
Land and a local plan
Sites must be allocated in a local plan or come forward as windfall. Many councils’ plans are out of date, which slows decisions and invites appeals.
2
Planning permission
A permission is necessary but not sufficient. A high approval rate excludes applications never made and says nothing about delays after approval.
More on this step
3
Infrastructure and finance
Roads, schools, water and grid connections, plus conditions such as nutrient neutrality, can hold up permitted sites. Builders also need finance at viable interest rates.
4
Construction
Builders start 124,830 homes a year on the building-control count (2025); large sites are built out at the pace builders expect to sell — the “absorption rate” identified by the Letwin review.
5
Occupied home
Net additions count new builds plus conversions and change of use, minus demolitions: 208,600 in 2024–25.

How many homes are being added?

How many homes is England adding each year?

Net additions have fallen for 3 years running and are far below 300,000

Net additional dwellings (new builds, conversions and changes of use, minus demolitions), England, financial years. Dashed line: about 300,000 a year, the annual rate implied by the government’s aim of 1.5 million homes in England over the Parliament from July 2024.

England · 2006–07 to 2024–25

Supply recovered from the post-crash low of 130,611 in 2012–13 to almost 250,000 before the pandemic, then fell back. In 2024–25, 190,602 of the 208,600 were new builds and about 18,000 came from conversions and change of use (such as offices turned into flats), net of demolitions. England has not added 300,000 homes in a year at any point in this series.

England · 2006–07 to 2024–25 · Official statistics

Sources, definitions and data

Geography:: England
Measure:: Homes
Period:: 2006–07 to 2024–25
Status:: Official statistics
Calculation:: As published (Live Table 120).
Compare with:: About 300,000 a year (1.5 million over five years, set in July 2024; earlier governments had a 300,000-a-year ambition from 2017)
Not included / breaks:: Net additions are the most complete measure of supply. They are not the same as building-control completions, which count new builds only and miss some — see the next chart.

Source: MHCLG, Housing supply: net additional dwellings, England, Live Table 120 (released 20 November 2025). Chart HOUSE-10.

View the data as a table

Year	Net additions	Of which new build
2006–07	214,936	193,080
2007–08	223,534	200,300
2008–09	182,767	157,630
2009–10	144,870	124,198
2010–11	137,394	117,695
2011–12	140,785	128,159
2012–13	130,611	118,536
2013–14	142,494	130,344
2014–15	176,582	155,078
2015–16	195,534	163,939
2016–17	223,234	183,571
2017–18	228,170	195,387
2018–19	247,766	214,413
2019–20	248,591	219,120
2020–21	217,754	191,819
2021–22	234,462	211,665
2022–23	234,292	212,364
2023–24	221,409	198,681
2024–25	208,600	190,602

Is the pipeline filling or emptying?

Starts fell sharply in 2024; completions are following them down

New dwellings started and completed, England, calendar years, building-control returns (all tenures).

England · 2000 to 2025

1996–2026 displayed window · observations only. Shading marks years outside the displayed record.

Starts are the best early warning for future supply. They fell from 182,070 in 2022 to 108,830 in 2024 as mortgage rates and build costs rose and buyers held back, and recovered only partly to 124,830 in 2025. Completions, which follow starts, fell to 142,050. This points to net additions staying low in the near term, whatever happens to planning.

England · 2000 to 2025 · Official statistics

Sources, definitions and data

Geography:: England
Measure:: Dwellings
Period:: 2000 to 2025
Status:: Official statistics
Calculation:: As published.
Compare with:: Starts lead completions by roughly one to two years
Not included / breaks:: Building-control counts miss some new homes (not all approved inspectors report), so they run below net additions. Use them for direction, not level.

Source: MHCLG, Live tables on house building: new build dwellings, Table 209 (calendar years). Chart HOUSE-11.

View the data as a table

Year	Starts	Completions
2000	142,610	135,100
2001	146,770	129,510
2002	150,700	136,800
2003	161,280	144,060
2004	176,680	154,060
2005	173,900	159,450
2006	170,610	160,850
2007	183,600	176,640
2008	106,890	148,010
2009	85,600	124,970
2010	110,660	106,720
2011	113,260	114,020
2012	101,020	115,590
2013	124,790	109,440
2014	140,760	117,810
2015	148,150	142,470
2016	155,150	141,870
2017	164,110	162,480
2018	168,610	165,490
2019	153,000	177,880
2020	129,440	146,650
2021	177,160	174,940
2022	182,070	178,350
2023	150,600	163,270
2024	108,830	153,850
2025	124,830	142,050

Why supply is low: competing explanations

Planning. Too little land is permitted where demand is highest, decisions are slow and uncertain, and out-of-date local plans invite appeals. This is the government’s main diagnosis and the target of the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025.

Build-out and the housebuilder model. The Letwin review (2018) found that large sites are built out at the rate builders expect to sell homes without lowering local prices — the “absorption rate” — so more permissions on the same sites do not by themselves speed delivery. Different types and tenures of home on large sites can raise the rate.

Demand and the cost of money. When mortgage rates rose in 2022–23, buyers held back and builders cut starts. The 2024 fall in starts happened with planning rules largely unchanged, which suggests demand and costs, not only permission, drive the short-term path.

Capacity and costs. Construction workers, materials and infrastructure connections (water, grid, nutrient neutrality rules in some catchments) limit how fast permitted sites can be built.

Each explanation points to a different lever, which is why the options on the Housing page are compared step by step. Planning applications and approvals over time are on planning applications and decisions; the options are in What would move the needle?

Sources and methods (3)

MHCLG, Housing supply: net additional dwellings, England, Live Table 120 (released 20 November 2025) — net additional dwellings and the new-build component
MHCLG, Live tables on house building: new build dwellings, Table 209 (calendar years) — starts and completions
Sir Oliver Letwin, Independent review of build out: final report (October 2018) — build-out rates on large sites

Method notes

Net additional dwellings (Live Table 120) is the most complete measure of supply: new builds plus conversions and change of use, minus demolitions, by financial year.
Starts and completions are building-control counts by calendar year and undercount new homes; use them for direction, not level.
The 300,000 reference is the annual average implied by the aim of 1.5 million homes in England over the Parliament; it is not an official annual target.