Planning permissions for home improvements falls to lowest level in a decade July 21, 2025 Planning permissions for home renovations has plummeted as the low consumer confidence permeates the construction industry. Consents for developments in England totalled 151,177 in the 12 months to March, 27 per cent below the 10-year average, according to data from Savills. This is despite a 24 per cent uplift in housing transactions as buyers rushed [...]
Barratt Redrow misses homebuilding target as affordability hits demand July 15, 2025 Housebuilder Barratt Redrow has built fewer homes than its target after affordability pressures continued to hit demand for new houses. The company, which was formed by a merger of Barratt and Redrow last year, said that total home completions for the 52 weeks ended June 29 reached 16,565. It had aimed for between 16,800 and [...]
The secret to London’s last housing boom? Less paperwork July 9, 2025 The last time London built enough houses was almost 100 years ago, when planning applications were just three pages long and took just weeks to approve, finds Sam Dumitriu Labour were elected on a pledge to build 1.5m homes. And Mayor Sadiq Khan has clear instructions from the Deputy PM: “build more homes!” In fact, [...]
Berkeley, Persimmon and Barratt hit by house price slowdown July 1, 2025 Weak growth in UK house prices has hit the shares of the UK leading listed homebuilders, with pundits concerned that a demand for private housing will prevent the government from reaching its ambitious housing goals. Berkeley’s share price has dropped by more than eight per cent in the past month and Persimmon is down four [...]
London won’t come close to 88,000 homes a year by 2029 June 24, 2025 London’s housing crisis exists on a spectrum, from the weary resignation of young professionals, first-time buyers and university students – to an acute, impossible state of affairs for those stuck in mouldy homes or unable to pay rent. Few disagree that a housing crisis exists, and few can find good reasons to lament the government’s [...]
Keir Starmer accused of hypocrisy over Camden housing targets June 20, 2025 Keir Starmer has been accused of hypocrisy over low housebuilding targets in his own constituency amid a country-wide push to ‘get Britain building again’. Camden council, which falls within Starmer’s constituency of Holborn & St Pancras, has shrugged off the government’s targets for housebuilding this parliament and instead used figures set by the 2021 London [...]
Will Reeves’ spending review make UK housing more affordable? June 11, 2025 Rachel Reeves has made housebuilding a central feature of the government’s spending policy. The planning system has been reformed, money has been funnelled into skills and developing brownfield housing, and new towns have been announced. But this afternoon’s spending review has firmly set out the government’s commitments for the sector, and affordable regional housing is [...]
MJ Gleeson: Shares plummet after profit warning as property market struggles June 3, 2025 Housebuilder MJ Gleeson has warned of a 15-20 per cent hit to its profit this year due to a slow housing market recovery and the collapse of a land sale in Yorkshire. The company told markets this morning that the pace of housing market recovery in the UK has “not been sufficient” to offset the [...]
How to fix the housing crisis? We’ve told the government again and again and again May 23, 2025 I’m a London estate agency chairman – and I’m tired of talking about the same housing problems every month, writes Simon Gerrard.
Shoreditch Works is a development the whole of London should seek to replicate May 19, 2025 Plans for Shoreditch Works show it is possible to build beautiful places that people actually want. The rest of London, take note.