DATA: Homes England published housebuilding stats for 2025/26
They report “Housing programmes delivered by Homes England resulted in 42,433 new homes starting on site and 40,332 new homes completed between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026” and “This represents an increase in both starts (by 11%) and completions (by 9%) compared to the same period the previous year”.
DATA: MHCLG revised and updated various affordable housing tables
They have revised data for 2024/25 in several tables and updated table 1012 with data for 2025/26. See Chart of the Week for more detail.
DATA: ONS published short-term lets data for 2025
They report “There was an 11.5% increase in guest nights in 2025 from the previous 12-month period, January to December 2024”. They also report “International guests were estimated to have contributed 32.1 million guest nights to the UK in 2025. This was a small increase of 2.1% in international guest nights compared with 2024 (31.5 million guest nights). Domestic visitors contributed 67.8 million guest nights, a large increase from 2024 of 16.7%.”
DATA: MHCLG published EHS local authority housing stock modelling
The English Housing Survey based analysis provides “modelled estimates of the number and proportion of occupied homes that are deemed non-decent according to the Decent Homes Standard, have Category 1 hazards, or have a problem with damp in each local authority, by tenure and dwelling type”. They report “Across both rented tenures, the highest rates of non-decency were in homes in local authorities in the South West, coastal areas of the South East, the Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber” while “Failing the Decent Homes Standard on multiple criteria was less common in London than other regions”.
DATA: Financial Market Expectations For BoE’s Bank Rate
The chart provides a summary for the expected future level of Bank Rate based on daily data. The One Year figure was 4.07% on the 24th Jun compared to 4.10% on the 17th Jun.
DATA: New Build Energy Performance Certificates, England
This chart provides a summary of the number of EPCs on new build properties, a useful leading indicator for net additions. The 52-week rolling total was 209,778 for the week commencing 15th Jun, similar to the 209,999 total for the previous week.
POLICY: Sir Kier Starmer resigns as Labour Party leader
He will remain prime minister until the leadership contest ends. Andy Burnham, former mayor of Greater Manchester, is likely to replace him.
POLICY: Housing Health and Safety Rating System came into force
“New power now in force in the Renters’ Rights Act so councils can take stronger action where landlords fail to fix problems, alongside existing enforcement powers” and “Landlords who don’t fix dangerous problems like damp and mould now face fines of up to £7,000”.
POLICY: HMT launched First Time Buyer ISA consultation
They are consulting on “the implementation of a new, simpler ISA product to support first time buyers to buy a home” that “will be offered in place of the Lifetime ISA”.
POLICY: HMRC & HMT launched consultation on VAT zero rate for land
They are consulting on “introducing a new VAT zero rate for land intended for the construction of social housing across the UK”.
POLICY: GLA published Heat Ready London plan
“London’s first ever heat plan – sets out new vision to protect the capital from extreme heat” and on housing it recommends “Retrofitting the highest-risk homes to reduce the risk of indoor overheating – via, for example, shutters, insulation and ventilation, and air conditioning”.
REPORT: HoL Built Environment Committee reported on young people
The policy letter suggests “Early and meaningful engagement with children and young people can reduce commercial risk to developers by minimising delays and building trust in the community” and “allow developers to gather valuable feedback to inform decision making and ultimately create better places”. The committee also “believes that the built environment sector and educators should seek to embrace video games as a tool for connecting to the younger generation to the built environment”.
REPORT: NAO reported on the service family accommodation estate
They report “The MoD’s repurchase of its SFA estate represents value for money when compared with the option of continuing its arrangements with Annington to lease back the estate” but they “estimate that by the time of the December 2024 repurchase of the estate, the MoD was £14.5 billion worse off than it would have been had it not entered into the deal with Annington”.
REPORT: Centre for Cities published Big Cities Outlook 2026
The report “highlights and expands on the economic performance of the UK’s largest cities to understand how they contribute to raising living standards across the country”. It recommends Government should “build its delivery of the Industrial Strategy around place, focusing on barriers to innovation such as commercial space and growth finance”, “deliver greater powers for metro mayors to plan and deliver integrated transport networks”, and “accelerate planning reform and prioritise densification in big cities where housing demand is strongest”.
REPORT: RF reported on younger Millennial and Gen Z living standards
They report “Nearly two-thirds (63 per cent) of people in their early 20s now remain ‘at home’, up 12 percentage points since 2011” and “Household incomes, after housing costs, at ages 20-26 for those born in 1996-2001 are nearly a fifth higher than for those born in 1986-1991 at the same age” but “exactly half of the apparent progress for the very youngest comes from income from other household members”.
REPORT: Loughborough University on flooding and property values
They report “flooded properties typically lose around 3% of their value immediately after a flood, with the loss rising to around 10% after 15 years” and “the median length of home ownership was four years in areas unexposed to flooding, compared with 15 years in places that had experienced at least one flood event, and 22 years in the worst flood-affected areas”.
REPORT: Public First reported on flooding & housing development
They “modelled how flooding during construction could affect developers financially and whether relatively low-cost property-level flood resilience (PFR) measures could help reduce some of those impacts” and finds “developers could save around £2.27 in avoided losses for every £1 invested in PFR measures”.
REPORT(PDF): LPDF reported on small and medium development sites
They report “the number of units granted planning permission on developments of 10-49 dwellings has fallen by 61% over 10 years, from 69,702 units to 26,909 units in 10 years” and “the proportion of appeals dismissed on developments of 10-49 dwellings has averaged 64% over the past decade” compared to “only 43% of appeals being dismissed over the past decade on proposals for 50+ units”.
REPORT: ARCO reported on integrated retirement communities
They report “More than half of UK homeowners would consider moving into specialist housing in later life – but a shortage of local options is holding back demand” and suggests “stepping-stone proposals for government to build on the lessons of New Zealand”.
REPORT: Savills published housing completions forecast
They “think that new homes completions in England will average 167,500 per year over the five years to 2029/30, well below the Government’s target of 300,000 per year, but roughly on par with the 20-year average for delivery”.
REPORT: EDRC reported on the drivers of air conditioning use in England
They report: “Although national AC use in England remains low at 4.3%, approximately 1.06 million homes, AC use among some societal groups is much higher. An estimated 39.7% of households living in modern 21st-century detached homes in London, who are among the 20% highest income earners, with a child under five, with a person who has a long-term illness or disability, and with someone working from home two or more days per week, use AC to stay cool in summer.”
REPORT: Create Streets on “Stopping Britain baking”
They suggest six policy changes to “help Britain keep cool in the heat”.
NEWS: NHF on children living in overheating homes
Using English Housing Survey data, they estimate “More than 70,000 babies in England – equivalent to one in every six – are living in overheated homes” and “These infants are among the 1.6 million children currently living in overheated homes”.
CORPORATE: Berkeley Group published Final Results
They report “The New Year then began with a degree of optimism, in widespread anticipation of interest rates cuts and gradual economic recovery” but “the wider ramifications of the Middle East conflict brought the fragility of the nascent recovery into context and the market has returned to being characterised by caution and lacking in urgency”. They also report “forward sales have reduced to £1,006 million (31 October 2025: £1,137 million and 30 April 2025: £1,403 million) as the value of sales reservations secured in the year was around 15% below the run-rate of the previous two years”.
Chart of the Week
The release of the latest Homes England housebuilding data and update of MHCLG’s table 1012 gives us an early indication for overall affordable housing completions in 2025/26 across England, with table 1000 due to be updated in November. The relationship isn’t perfect anymore given the wider range of funding sources for affordable housing delivery as table 1012 only covers Homes England and GLA funding. The data suggests a further rise in the number of social rented homes completed and a possible rise in the overall total number of affordable homes completed – though this is less certain. We’ll have to wait till November to know for sure.
