Planning permission was granted for just 42,000 new homes in England during the third quarter of 2025, a 34% drop on the same quarter the previous year and the lowest quarterly total since 2012.
The overall number of units approved during the first nine months of 2025 – 146,798 – was 25% lower than a year ago. The number of housing projects granted planning permission in Q3 has also dropped, with the total of 1,452 representing a 17% decline compared to Q2 and a 45% year-on-year decrease.
For the 12 months to September 2025, planning permission was given for a total of 209,781 new homes – the lowest for a 12-month period since 2013 and 38% lower than the peak seen in early 2022.
The figures from the Home Builders Federation’s latest Housing Pipeline report, based on data from construction data company Glenigan, demonstrate the scale of the housing challenge faced by the government, HBF said.
“[The] figures paint a very worrying picture for future housing supply,” said HBF chief executive Neil Jefferson.
“The planning reforms announced [in December] are very positive, but home builders continue to grapple with rising policy costs and new taxes, making investment hard to justify.
“Building on improvements to both the planning system and the planning process, ministers now need to consider these rising taxes, new levies and excessive policy costs that make many sites unviable to develop.”
The further decline in investment in new housing delivery is due to weaknesses in the housing market and a lack of confidence that buyers can be found for new homes, HBF said, leading to a ‘viability crisis’ as increased taxes, levies and policy costs make many areas economically impossible to build in.
“Meanwhile, the lack of affordable mortgage lending is preventing many young people without access to the Bank of Mum and Dad from getting onto the housing ladder, undermining the industry’s ability to build more homes and further entrenching social inequalities,” Jefferson added.
Housing schemes of 10 or more units accounted for 92% of approved units. The remaining 8% were on smaller new-build projects of up to nine units, including self-build schemes, homes within non-residential projects and the conversion of non-residential properties.
There was a marked regional variation in the number of permissions granted: approvals rose in the West Midlands (131%), East of England (90%) and North East (52%), West Midlands (131%) and East of England compared to the preceding quarter. Approvals fell in the North West (57%), Yorkshire & the Humber (56%) and London (49%).
The figures spark concern for future housing supply, the HBF warns. The 12 month total for plots given planning permission represents just 57% of the combined annual target for housing delivery of 370,000, established by the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).
One Response
The comparison shouldn’t be about the number of planning permissions – it should be about ensuring that HBF polices the construction industry and developers to ensure that corners are not cut and safe homes are delivered that will last, not fall down in the next 20 years or require home owners to completely re-do the properties they have bought as the construction industry have put up homes with plasterboard and spit – all in the name of profit. Home buyers deserve better.