UK’s Building Boom Hotspots Revealed

UK Developers are steaming ahead with planning applications as research has pinpointed areas of Britain set for a property building boom in the coming months.

Sirius Property Finance analysed figures on the average monthly total planning applications submitted across each region of the UK, the average success rate of these applications and what this equates to in terms of total applications granted.

The research shows that across the UK, almost 24,500 planning applications are received on average each month, with just over 20,500 (84%) of those being successful.

Northern Ireland is home to the highest average monthly success rate for planning applications approved, with 95% of all applications given the green light each month, followed by the Northeast at 92% and Wales at 97%.

However, these regions are also home to some of the lowest average monthly totals of planning permission submitted, accounting for 0.5%, 2.3% and 3.8% of respective successful planning applications.

In fact, it’s the Southeast that looks set for the biggest building boom in 2023 so far, with 4,491 planning applications made on average each month. While just 84% of these applications are successful, this equates to 3,772 successful applications each month – 18.4% of the UK total.

At just 75%, London is home to the lowest percentage of successful planning applications across the UK. But despite this, the 3,444 successful bids seen across the capital monthly account for 16.8% of the national total.

The East of England (12.7%), Southwest (10.4%) and Northwest (8.3%) also account for some of the highest levels of successful planning applications made each month across the UK.

Nicholas Christofi, managing director of Sirius Property Finance, commented: “Despite the economic uncertainty that came during the closing stages of 2022, we’ve continued to see a high level of market activity when it comes to the financing of both commercial and residential developments across the UK.

“What’s perhaps more telling is the higher propensity of these developments in higher value regions such as the Southeast and London, which suggest that a robust level of confidence remains in the market and that any fears of a property price downturn are largely behind us.

“More encouraging still, is the fact that the majority of applications made are getting approval and this bodes very well for the health of the market moving forward, both in terms of ability to actually build, as well as the delivery of this stock to avoid any future periods of market stagnation.”