- Only 2,158 private housing constructions were started in London in the first six months of 2025, a measly 4.9% of the government’s target
- The second quarter of the year mustered just 731 new starts, half the already paltry figures from Q1
- The new figures from consultancy Molior also showed just 3,950 new homes were sold in London during the first half of 2025. Sales rates are now as low as they were in early 2009
- Figures previously published by the Centre for Policy Studies found that London has just 427 homes for every 1,000 residents. If London were to match the average ratio in comparable European countries, it has an implied shortage of 1.1 million homes
Responding to the figures, Centre for Policy Studies Head of Housing and Infrastructure Ben Hopkinson said:
‘These latest figures should alarm policymakers and Londoners alike.
‘The nation’s capital has probably the worst housing shortfall in Europe, and yet our planning and political system is preventing so much of the housebuilding we desperately need, to the point where the sector is almost at a standstill.
‘A failure to tackle London’s housing shortages, and make it viable to build in the capital, is ruining people’s personal economic prospects, damaging their ability to become homeowners and start families, and holding back growth at a national level. We need to demolish the barriers to housebuilding across the UK, but nowhere more urgently than in London.’
ENDS
NOTES FOR EDITORS
- Ben Hopkinson, Head of Housing and Infrastructure, is available for interview. Please contact Melisa Tourt on 07399 251110 and [email protected]
- ‘How Many Homes Does Britain Need?’ is available here
- Molior’s Q2 2025 Residential Development In London report is available here
- The Centre for Policy Studies is one of the oldest and most influential think tanks in Westminster. With a focus on taxation, economic growth, housing, immigration, and energy abundance, its goal is to develop policies that widen enterprise, ownership and opportunity.
Date Added: Monday 14th July 2025
