Starts on Homes England-managed sites fall by 12% in first six months of 2025

For completed homes, 10,309 were delivered, a 3% decrease. Of these, social rent increased by 15% and affordable rent dropped by 5%.

For intermediate affordable housing schemes, including shared ownership and Rent to Buy, completed homes dropped by 8% to 4,654.

A spokesperson for Homes England said: “Housing delivery in this period is lower than last year, reflecting a return to typical levels of activity after an exceptional surge in 2024-25, which was driven by strong market activity and overlapping programmes.

“We remain focused on working with partners to support delivery and expect many of the homes started in this period to move forward in the months ahead.”

The government housing and regeneration agency explained that in the first half of 2025, the winding down of the Affordable Homes programme 2021-26 slowed the delivery of starts and completions, as did the closing of the short-term Home Building Fund.

These figures exclude London for all programmes except those administered by Homes England on behalf of the Greater London Authority.

Julia Thomson, social housing partner at law firm Womble Bond Dickinson, said: “While these figures only relate to programmes managed by Homes England, they confirm what has become more and more apparent – that housing delivery is falling well short of the government’s stated ambition.

“The projected shortfall to the target of 1.5 million new homes this parliament – already highly ambitious when announced in July 2024 – is growing month on month.

“The reduced affordable housing starts in particular are completely reflective of the sector and wider economic conditions. The pressure of increased build costs, the increased burden of repair costs on registered providers, the lack of certainty on grant commitment prior to the Spring Spending Review and inflation have all impacted the sector’s ability to develop at scale. 

“It is hoped that the certainty given by the 10-year rent settlement and affordable homes programme mitigates this and allows the sector to continue to provide development of much-needed affordable housing.

“The government has taken other measures intended to boost housing delivery generally, such as last year’s revised National Planning Policy Framework. However, they will take time to achieve a measurable impact, and they are not yet sufficiently transformative to deliver anything close to the near-doubling of output required to meet the government’s target.”

The figures come after Homes England’s director of affordable housing said partners may be able to access funding above the £700m cap under new the Social and Affordable Homes Programme, if the agency has “certainty and confidence” in deliverability.

Shahi Islam has also revealed that the government agency is “open” to conversations around grant rates with providers facing viability issues.

Plus, in an interview with Inside Housing, Mr Islam explained what the agency is looking for from housing providers bidding for a slice of that development money.