Housing secretary Angela Rayner has admitted there is only “a slim chance” the government will meet its target of building 1.5 million new homes within this parliament.
Speaking to the BBC yesterday (Sunday), Rayner acknowledged the manifesto promise had been “a stretch target” but said she was not giving up. “I think it’s really important that we keep a target that was always a stretch target”, the minister told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg.
The government is focusing on affordable housing, Rayner said, reinforcing Andy Burnham’s commitment to increasing council housing.
“The prime minister wants us to make sure we’re building council house”, she told Kuenssberg. “He’s made that absolutely, fundamentally clear.
“We’ve just announced £10 billion into a social and affordable homes programme. We’re seeing home starts up by 15% last year, so we are making a difference.
“But the headwinds that are coming our way internationally and through those construction costs are having a negative effect on that target.”
Figures from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) suggest 300,000 new homes are needed each year to meet the 1.5 million target. According to the latest English Housing Supply update from Savills, 202,7000 homes were built in the year to Q2 2026, reflecting only a 0.4% rise compared to the last quarter. Savills predicts housing delivery will remain static at almost 100,000 homes short of the government policy target.
The figures are reflected in the Home Builders Federation’s latest Housing Pipeline report, based on data from Glenigan. Approval for just over 54,000 homes was granted in the first three months of this year – significantly below the level needed to achieve the government’s ambition for 300,000 annually, as housing supply and new consents for future delivery “continue to flatline” at around 200,000 per annum.
Over the past 12 months permission was granted for 216,141 new homes in England, representing just 58% of the combined annual target for housing delivery of 370,000, established by the government’s own planning system, the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).
