The latest Housing Pipeline Report from the Home Builders Federation, containing data supplied by Glenigan, shows that the number of planning permissions granted for new homes fell 20% year on year, with 2023 seeing the fewest number of sites approved since records began in 2006.
The 10,527 sites granted permission in 2023 represented a 16% decrease on 2022; a 23% fall on 2021 levels and only around half of the average annual permissioned between 2015 and 2019 when government policies were focused on improving housing affordability. At under 233,000, the number of units approved in 2023 dropped 20% on 2022, 27% on 2021 and was down 30% compared to pre-pandemic levels, when housing delivery was increasing year on year.
The figures were released just days after the Government published housing completions figures for 2023 which confirmed that the number of new homes built in Southern England were down by 13% year-on-year.
They also come just months after Michael Goves’ capitulation to NIMBY backbenchers that saw some fundamental planks of the National Planning Policy Framework in particular housing targets for local authorities. The two years the Government spent deliberating over the changes saw 64 authorities withdrew or pause their Local Plans, the vast majority of these in Southern England.
