Since 2015, over a million homes granted planning permission in England and Wales have been left unbuilt, according to the inaugural Planning Portal Market Index
The first Planning Portal Market Index has found that around a third of houses granted planning permission in the last decade have been left unbuilt.
Since 2015, over a million homes in England and Wales have not realised their plans since gaining planning permission.
The data is a concerning insight on the ability to realise planning applications, as 90% of applications made to local authorities in these two regions are made through the Planning Portal.
The planning system is not the only obstacle to new housing delivery
If all of the homes in England and Wales granted planning permission over the same period completed their works, the government target of 300,000 new homes built per year would have been achieved for eight years.
Planning Portal is operated by TerraQuest, whose chief executive Geoff Keal commented: “These figures suggest that the near-exclusive focus on the planning system in the political debate around housing is misplaced. Until recently, planning permission was being granted for enough new homes to meet the government’s targets.
“While the planning system is by no means perfect, and those homes granted permission could be in the wrong places, this data strongly suggests that policymakers need to look more widely at the factors stifling the completion of homes for which planning permission has been granted.”
High interest and general costs continue to stifle construction work
Geoff continued: “High interest rates have a double impact on the completion of new homes. By dampening the housing market in the short term, they limit the potential commercial rewards available to housebuilders for proceeding with projects. At the same time, the high cost of borrowing to finance projects in the first place pushes up costs and eats into developer profits.
“This is compounded by the well-publicised challenges facing the construction sector in overcoming skills shortages that have left its headcount more than a quarter of million short of the number needed to meet projected demand. Meanwhile, the supply of fundamental construction supplies of bricks and blocks are down by 4.3% and 9.8% over the year to April, according to official statistics.
“Our analysis shows just how profound the challenges are for policymakers in ensuring enough new homes are built to meet the needs of a growing population.”
