Despite the clear need for more houses in London, the capital is building at less than a quarter of the per capita rate of the rest of England, according to new analysis published by the Centre for Policy Studies.
‘The City That Doesn’t Build’ by CPS Head of Housing and Infrastructure Ben Hopkinson shows that in the 2024-25 financial year, only 4,170 homes were started in London. That is less than 5% of its 88,000 home target. There has also been a dramatic and exceptional fall in building in the past decade.
In fact, development has become so difficult that 80% of housing developments finished in London last year received planning permission under the London Plan set out by Boris Johnson when he was Mayor of London in 2016, rather than under Sadiq Khan’s London Plan.
The regulatory environment has made the cost of building so high that even if the land is provided for free, developments in half of London are unviable, according to planning consultancy Molior.
Ben Hopkinson is the Head of Housing and Infrastructure at the Centre for Policy Studies. He was previously the Head of Research at Britain Remade, a pro-economic growth campaign group, and a Senior Risk Consultant at PwC. He holds an MSc in International Relations from the London School of Economics and a BA in Philosophy,... View Article
