Major house builder not seeing opportunities to build new flats in London

It comes months after the house builder told investors it does not expect to be embarking on any big projects in the city soon.

On the latest trading outlook, Jennie Daly, chief executive of Taylor Wimpey, said: “Sales in the year to date have been steady and our teams continue to work extremely hard to support customers through their homebuying journeys against ongoing affordability challenges and an increasingly uncertain macro backdrop.

“We are committed to delivering high-quality homes and driving our assets, and continue to see good progress on planning and outlet openings whilst maintaining strict operational discipline.

“With highly experienced teams, a high-quality landbank and a healthy balance sheet, we remain focused on delivering growth over the medium term and value for all our stakeholders.”

Last autumn, the company had nine incomplete apartment schemes across the city worth £270m, which it plans to finish by 2029.

Ms Daly told investors last year: “Given the planning and viability challenges in London alongside constraints associated with the Building Safety Regulator, we have limited appetite to reinvest that capital back into the city.”

The firm’s sales order book of £2.3bn in value and 7,689 homes was slightly down on last year.

Taylor Wimpey said: “Whilst customer engagement remains resilient, more recently we have experienced some underlying pricing pressure.

“Overall pricing in the order book is c.1% lower year-on-year, with prices most impacted where affordability is more stretched in the South of England, and where we have made proactive choices to recycle capital as we phase out of our Greater London apartment schemes.”

The firm pointed to rising energy costs, with build cost inflation expected to be low to mid single-digit for 2026, and cost pressure and surcharges starting to come through its supply chain.

Last year, the government announced temporary changes to planning policy in London after housing starts in the capital fell to a 16-year low. 

In March, mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan confirmed that developers would not have to pay the Community Infrastructure Levy on projects that start work in the next four years.

Builders will also be able to use a ‘fast-track’ planning route with a lower affordable housing requirement of 20%, and guidance on density has been removed.