England’s planning approvals for new homes at record low as Labour faces housing challenge

Planning approvals for new homes in England fell to a record low in the year ending June 2025, according to official data, underscoring the challenge for the government's housing agenda as Labour enters its first year in office. Fewer than 29,000 projects were granted permission by councils in the year to June 2025, a decline that signals difficulty in meeting the party's stated goal of delivering 1.5 million homes by the next general election.

During April to June 2025, about 7,000 applications were approved, the lowest three-month figure since records began in 1979 and an 8% drop from the same period in 2024. An application can be either minor for fewer than 10 homes or major for 10 or more. The data also show that the share of decisions resulting in approvals rose, with around three-quarters of decided applications approved in the year to June 2025, up from 71% the year before.

Separately, Glenigan data suggest 221,000 individual homes were granted permission in the year to June, down from 237,000 in the year to June 2024.

Labour promised in its election manifesto to deliver 1.5 million homes in England by the next general election. Achieving that target would require an average of about 300,000 new homes a year. New housing secretary Steve Reed said the government would go 'further and faster' on building homes. 'These figures are unacceptable. I will leave no stone unturned to build 1.5 million homes, so families have the key to home ownership in their hands,' he said.

Reed's plan includes an overhaul of the Building Safety Regulator's performance and working with Mayor of London Sadiq Khan to unlock housing in the capital. The government has also pledged a £39 billion investment over 10 years to build hundreds of thousands of new social and affordable homes, on top of housing targets set for local councils last December.

Data used in BBC Verify's housing tracker suggest the number of new homes receiving their first energy performance certificate fell during Labour's first year in office, with ministers blaming the slowdown on the previous Conservative government. Planning Portal, which people use to apply to their local council for permission, has reported a big rise in inquiries about new homes. Geoff Keal from Planning Portal said that while applications had increased, getting to the decision stage can take several months. 'Backlogs mean approvals for this wave of applications may not appear until later in the year.'

Housing market analyst Neal Hudson, of BuiltPlace, said Labour hit the ground running with housing policies but the underlying problem may be misdiagnosed. 'Housebuilders and developers will not plan for and build homes if there's no one to buy them,' he said, citing elevated house prices and mortgage rates and arguing the government's affordable homes programme falls short of the 1.5 million target.

Taken together, the data illustrate ongoing constraints on housing supply even as policy makers press forward with reforms. The path to delivering 1.5 million homes in England remains contingent on demand conditions, mortgage affordability, and the pace of planning and building reforms, with officials saying more measures will be rolled out in coming months.