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Nearly one in three homes with planning permission not built
Nearly one in every three homes granted planning permission over the last five years have not been built, research by Shelter has revealed.
Developers have failed to build more than 320,000 homes in the past five years despite gaining planning permission for them. Shelter said this equates to nearly one in every three homes in England granted planning permission in the past five years.
The problem is particularly severe in London where one in two homes remain unbuilt.
In the same time period, the profits of the country’s top five housebuilders have soared by 388% to a total of £3.3bn in 2016, according to the research.
Shelter argues the current housebuilding system encourages developers to sit on land and limit the supply of new homes to try and keep prices high. The government acknowledged this concern in the Housing White Paper. It stated: “We will make it easier for local authorities to take action against those who do not build out once permissions have been granted.”
Anne Baxendale, head of communications, policy and campaigns at Shelter, said: "Housebuilders are trickling out a handful of poor quality homes at a snail’s pace meaning there are simply not enough affordable homes and ordinary working families are bearing the brunt.
"While people across the country struggle with eye-wateringly high housing costs, developers’ profits are soaring into the billions. Time and again we hear the ‘red tape’ of the planning system being blamed but the real problem is a system where developers make more profit sitting on land than they would by building homes.
"It’s clear our housebuilding system has failed the nation but the government can turn things around by supporting a whole new approach. Shelter’s New Civic Housebuilding model listens to the needs of communities and gives more powers to councils to get developers building the high-quality genuinely affordable homes we need."
