Planning permissions continue to drop – HBF/Glenigan

New home planning permissions have continued to drop, with the number of sites approved now the lowest on record and home consents down 20% against 2022, according to the Home Builders Federation.

The latest Housing Pipeline Report for Q4 2023 from HBF and with data compiled by Glenigan, shows that 10,527 sites were granted permission in 2023 in England - 16% below 2022 and a 23% decrease on 2021, and representing the lowest 12-month level since the Pipeline report began in 2006.

This level of site permissions was also, HBF said, only around half of the average annual permissioned between 2015 and 2019 “when government policies were focused on improving housing affordability”.

The data also showed a nine-year low for the number of approved units in 2023. At under 233,000, they decreased 20% against 2022 and were a 27% drop on 2021. They also collapsed 30% against pre-pandemic levels when, HBF said, housing output was improving year-on-year.

With planning permissions a “lead indicator” of future supply levels, HBF said that the latest report confirmed industry warnings “that an increasingly anti-development policy environment, including new taxes on building and challenging conditions for homebuyers is resulting in decreased …