Housebuilders warn Labour’s housing targets may be unachievable
12:01 AM, 3rd November 2025, 5 months ago
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Housebuilders warn the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) that Labour’s 1.5 million homes target won’t be met.
The Times reports that in a private letter to the OBR, Britain’s housebuilders, including the Home Builders Federation, said the government’s housing targets are “too optimistic.”
The news comes ahead of the Autumn Budget next month.
Reduce planned taxes
The newspaper reports that in March this year, the OBR predicted UK housebuilding would reach 1.3 million homes by the end of the decade.
However, ministers claimed at the time that the figures did not account for the Planning and Infrastructure Bill and the Affordable Homes Programme, which would deliver the 1.5 million target.
In a private letter, the Home Builders Federation warned the OBR that Labour’s housing targets would only be achievable if “the government provided help for first-time buyers to stimulate demand and reduced planned taxes on new homes that were making many sites unviable.”
The newspaper also reports that a study commissioned by the National Housing Federation found that in order to hit the target, private housebuilding would have to expand faster than at any time in the last 50 years, alongside a huge expansion in social housing.
Labour on course to miss housing targets
As previously reported on Property118, Labour is on course to miss housing targets without urgent action.
Analysis from planning consultancy Lanpro reveals delivery is 10% down on the ten-year average, and well below the 300,000 per year widely accepted as the minimum needed to reach Labour’s pledge.
At the current rate, only half of the promised homes are likely to be delivered.
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Member Since May 2018 - Comments: 1999
12:44 PM, 3rd November 2025, About 5 months ago
“The newspaper….reports that a study commissioned by the National Housing Federation found that in order to hit the target, private housebuilding would have to expand faster than at any time in the last 50 years, alongside a huge expansion in social housing.”
The Affordable Homes Programme is providing money to allow social housing providers to buy homes that have already been built. Neither the Affordable Homes Programme nor the Planning and Infrastructure Bill are going to deliver the promised 1.5 million homes.
The government hasn’t got enough money to spend what it wants to spend on healthcare, pay enough for defence, or provide energy security. The government cannot afford to fund the extra homes and the only way that it can do it is by including private equity in the total mix.
But at the moment non-incorporated landlords are still unable to offset their finance costs against rents and so are penalised for investing in housing. Any government competent enough to deliver 1.5 million new homes wouldn’t be penalising private investors for investing in housing.
Member Since January 2015 - Comments: 1435 - Articles: 1
1:17 PM, 3rd November 2025, About 5 months ago
No Governments house building targets have been achievable since the 1960’s and none has actually ever come near to achieving them.
Member Since May 2018 - Comments: 1999
1:57 PM, 3rd November 2025, About 5 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Judith Wordsworth at 03/11/2025 – 13:17
That’s true. And labour governments make things worse by over-spending, penalising growth and aspiration plus stimulating the flight of capital.
After labour gave train drivers a big hike in salary for a four-day week without any agreement to change performance or practices it shouldn’t surprise anybody that there has been a drop in public sector productivity since labour came to power:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15253015/Public-service-productivity-Labour-pay-spending-Reeves-Budget.html
Rachel Reeves is also reported to be presently considering an ‘exit tax’ for wealthy Britons heading offshore.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/rachel-reeves-budget-exit-tax-emigration-b2856599.html
A sensible response to that for anybody thinking about running a business in Britain would be to keep ownership of everything that could be owned offshore out of GB to start with. About half of our wind farms are already owned offshore. But these days, even a small business trading online can base at least part of its operations offshore; you don’t have to be a footballer living in Marbella, or any of the high profile rock stars and film stars that Denis Healey famously sent packing in the 1970s. All this short-termism doesn’t lead to economic growth.
If labour really wanted to build 1.5 million new homes they’ve got to bring in the finance from somewhere to pay for it because they haven’t got the money. And they have to do it without destroying the economy.
Member Since December 2024 - Comments: 62
9:12 PM, 3rd November 2025, About 5 months ago
If the Labour govt really wants to unlock house building, then they need to give developers encouragement by doing these five things:
1. Abolish section 106.
2. Scrap Nutrient Neutrality.
3. Prevent NIMBYS from blocking planning applications.
4. Boost the supply of skilled labour.
5. Boost the supply of essential construction materials.
Member Since May 2018 - Comments: 1999
10:05 AM, 4th November 2025, About 5 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Robin Wilson at 03/11/2025 – 21:12
The government is never going to be able to stop NIMBYS from blocking planning applications because we live in a democracy.
If the government wants to build more houses it needs to stop penalising people for investing in them. Not increasing employers’ NI and reducing the level at which it kicks in would also have helped.