SUMMARY

Delivery of new homes reached 250,552 in 2019 according to Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) data. This is the first time a quarter of a million homes has been delivered in a year since the 1970s. But housing delivery is growing more slowly than before. In Q4 2019, delivery was 5% higher than the year before, down from 13% higher in Q1 2019. This follows a sustained fall in starts, which were down 7% over the year to September 2019.

There were around 380,000 consents in the year to Q2 2019, a number that has been stable since it reached this record height in 2018, but there is still no sign of this translating into more delivery. Housing delivery is growing in some regions more slowly than in others. The South West, West Midlands, and North East have followed London’s path from last quarter with delivery in 2019 remaining flat compared to 2018. Growth in delivery was still strong in Yorkshire and Humber, the North West, and East at over 10%, with more moderate growth of 7% and 3% for the South East and East Midlands respectively.

We can also see variance in delivery within regions in our estimation of a Q4 2019 Housing Delivery Test (HDT), against the 2020 test thresholds. Only 56% of local authorities would pass the test. Crucially, 45 authorities would meet less than 65% of their housing requirement and fall under presumption in favour of sustainable development.