The UK completed 229,700 new homes in the year to June, which “highlights the challenges ahead” for the new government’s housebuilding programme, data from Savills shows.

The property agent cites the latest energy performance certificate data, and adds: “The supply of new homes has been essentially static at around 230,000 since the end of 2023.”

The government plans to build 1.5 million homes over the next five years, and targets a higher rate of 370,000 homes a year.

By contrast, the last Conservative administration failed to hit its 2019 manifesto pledge of building 250,000 new homes by the mid-2020s.

“Residential development generally continues to decline,” points out Savills second-quarter English Housing Supply Update.

It adds that residential housing sank to more than 15% below 2019’s level in May, according to the Office for National Statistics construction data.

Annualised starts fell 55% between the second quarter of last year and the same period this year, says the National House-Building Council.

The agent’s update adds that new home completions by the top 10 housebuilders fell 3% between the first quarter of last year and the second quarter of this year, and by 14% year-on-year – which adds up to over 10,000 fewer homes.

The agent points out: “If housebuilding is to take off under the new government, a substantial increase in the number of planning permissions will be needed.”

Around 235,000 new homes gained full planning consent in the twelve months to June 2024, according to estimates from Glenigan and the Home Builders Federation.

The government plans to appoint 300 new planning officers, which will cost of £20m over the next five years.

The agent’s report points out that Build to Rent completions hit their highest level on record, with 22,157 homes finished in the year to June 2024.

Although starts in this tenure fell to their lowest annual level since 2016, with only 11,548 homes entering construction over the year to June.   v