Here’s how to get London building now Opinion New housebuilding in London has ground to a halt. Urgent effort is needed to cut taxes on new housing, make the regulator more efficient and help first time buyers, says John Dickie As we head towards May’s local elections, London’s acute housing crisis will be one of the most frequent issues raised by voters on [...]
Britain needs practical ideas to fix the housing crisis Opinion Prosper UK is bringing together a group of experts with a proven track record of delivery to try to solve the housing crisis, says Gavin Barwell If you were making a list of long-standing public policy failures in this country, housing would be right near the top. We haven’t built enough homes for at least [...]
Labour’s housebuilding target ‘impossible the day it was announced’ says construction boss Property Labour’s housebuilding target was impossible the day it was announced, the boss of a leading construction materials firm has warned. Rob Wood, chief executive of materials specialist Breedon Group, told City AM the government’s plans to build 1.5m homes by the next general election will fail because Labour is not backing its construction industries. Wood [...]
Small house building firms in ‘existential crisis’ as sales rates plummet March 9, 2026 Falling sales are pushing small and medium-sized (SME) house builders into an “existential crisis” that could threaten the government’s house building ambitions. SME house builders have seen average sales drop by 41 per cent between 2021 and 2025, according to a report by estate agents Savills for the Land, Planning and Development Federation (LPDF). The [...]
Labour warned it could miss housing targets over tax burden on sector March 4, 2026 A leading construction industry body has warned the Labour government could miss its ambitious house building target as employment costs and tax burdens build pressure on the sector. The Construction Plant-hire Association (CPA), which represents more than 2,000 firms providing critical machinery and expertise to the industry, told City AM Labour will fail to meet [...]
UK construction ‘exits tailspin’ but job losses persist as housebuilding slumps February 5, 2026 The UK’s struggling construction sector showed signs it was turning a corner at the beginning of the year even as job losses and shrinking order books persisted. The latest construction Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI) from S&P Global – which serves as a headline index tracking industry activity – edged up to 46.4, up from 40.1 [...]
London house prices ‘need’ to fall amid supply increase, housing minister says January 30, 2026 House prices “probably need” to fall in London, the housing minister has said, after insisting that the government’s 1.5m home building target could still be met. Matthew Pennycook said Labour wants to encourage developers to compete on volume in order to ramp up housing supply and make homes more affordable. There are “people in London [...]
FTSE 100 Live: BP’s $5bn hit; Prudential taps ex-HSBC chair January 14, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. Investors were taking a back seat to risk on Tuesday after President Donald Trump’s latest salvo on the Federal Reserve rocked global markets. The US Department of Justice opened a criminal investigation into the Fed’s chair, Jerome Powell, as Trump escalated his crusade against the central bank’s [...]
Construction marks full year of decline in blow to Labour January 7, 2026 The construction sector has now marked one full year of a decline in output, according to a leading survey, blowing a hole in Labour’s ambitious housebuilding targets. S&P Global’s monthly survey showed the sector had fallen under a threshold for neutrality in output for the twelfth successive month. The reading for December was also the [...]
Housing market ended 2025 on ‘softer note’ after ‘resilient’ year January 2, 2026 The UK housing market rounded off 2025 on a softer note after remaining “resilient” through a volatile year, according to Nationwide’s latest house price index. Annual house price growth slowed to 0.6 per cent in December from 1.8 per cent in November, with a 0.4 per cent fall in prices. This took the average UK [...]