UK Government Misses New House Building Targets by 45%

Fresh analysis by Sirius Property Finance looked at historic dwelling completion figures across England stretching back to the late 1970s, before analysing dwellings built versus the 300,000-target set out by the government and then chancellor Phillip Hammond in November 2017.

The shortage of supply in the UK house market is a primary reason for the increasing value of UK Real Estate has the population growth and demand increases.

The UK government recently made the decision to scrap their housebuilding target of 300,000 homes per annum, a target that was originally set out in the 2019 Conservative manifesto and to be reached by the mid-2020s.

When it was first unveiled by the then chancellor Phillip Hammond in November 2017, there were some 162,470 homes built across England that year – 46% off the pace of their intended target for the future.

This total grew steadily to 177,880 homes built in 2019, the highest total seen since 2017 but still -41% below the 300,000 targets.

The impact of the pandemic then saw this total fall to 146,630 homes in 2020, less than half of the government’s annual target, before climbing to 174,930 new homes delivered in 2021.

However, it is estimated that just 170,200 new homes have been built across England in 2022, a 3% year-on-year decline in output and 43% below the annual target of 300,00 homes.

Since 2020 when the government intended to hit its target of 300,000 new homes a year, just 491,760 of the proposed 900,000 have been built.

In fact, the government hasn’t come close to hitting this annual target in the last 45 years, with the highest level of housing delivered in a single year coming in 1978 when 241,310 homes were built.

The MD of Sirius Property Finance, Nicholas Christofi, commented: “The government’s failure when it comes to housing delivery is clear for all to see and it’s even more disappointing still that they have chosen to throw in the towel and water down these targets, rather than commit to solving the housing crisis.

“We expect it will be this lacklustre approach to housebuilding that is unveiled in this week’s spring statement, rather than a new commitment to a more meaningful target.

“Of course, given their historic failures, it’s fair to say that any ambitions they may have been likely to amount to little more than recycled rhetoric, rather than actual homes built.”

Table shows completed dwellings across England by year and how this compares to the 300,000-government target

 

Year

Completed – all dwellings

% below 300,000 target

1978

241,310

-19.6%

1979

209,460

-30.2%

1980

202,610

-32.5%

1981

168,420

-43.9%

1982

146,670

-51.1%

1983

167,810

-44.1%

1984

175,390

-41.5%

1985

164,100

-45.3%

1986

170,360

-43.2%

1987

178,290

-40.6%

1988

193,810

-35.4%

1989

174,950

-41.7%

1990

163,910

-45.4%

1991

154,600

-48.5%

1992

143,830

-52.1%

1993

147,840

-50.7%

1994

154,640

-48.5%

1995

157,140

-47.6%

1996

149,090

-50.3%

1997

149,500

-50.2%

1998

142,650

-52.5%

1999

141,010

-53.0%

2000

135,090

-55.0%

2001

129,500

-56.8%

2002

136,800

-54.4%

2003

144,060

-52.0%

2004

154,070

-48.6%

2005

159,450

-46.9%

2006

160,860

-46.4%

2007

176,640

-41.1%

2008

148,010

-50.7%

2009

124,980

-58.3%

2010

106,730

-64.4%

2011

114,030

-62.0%

2012

115,590

-61.5%

2013

109,450

-63.5%

2014

117,820

-60.7%

2015

142,480

-52.5%

2016

141,880

-52.7%

2017

162,470

-45.8%

2018

165,490

-44.8%

2019

177,880

-40.7%

2020

146,630

-51.1%

2021

174,930

-41.7%

2022 est

170,200

-43.3%

 

Back to Blog

Related Articles

UK Landlords Retiring: Opportunity for New Investors

Landlords who purchased properties soon after the launch of the first buy-to-let mortgage in 1996...
Read More

Rising House Prices Beat Inflation in a Whopping 22 UK Cities

According to a recent study conducted by eXp UK, a personal estate agents network, house prices...
Read More

Discover the UK's Highest Growth Areas and Most/Least Expensive Areas

Zoopla’s monthly House Price Index reveals the districts, cities, and regions where house prices...
Read More