The latest Housing Pipeline report from the Home Builders Federation (HBF) has revealed that in the third quarter of 2025, just 42,000 homes received planning permission
This marks a 31% drop from the same quarter last year, and the lowest quarterly total for UK housebuilding viability in 15 years.
The HBF report further highlights just 1,311 project approvals between June and September, another quarter of decline for permissions granted.
Approvals are still declining
The number of housing projects that were approved in 2025 sits at 7,500, a 12% drop on the year to Q2 2025, and 1,000 fewer than the previous record low in June 2025, and only 36% of those given approval in 2018.
A further decline in investment in new housing has been recorded, due to a weak housing market and lack of confidence in buyers.
All this has led to what the HBF calls a viability crisis, with increased taxes, levies, and policy costs making building houses more financially difficult.
Neil Jefferson, chief executive at the Home Builders Federation, said: “Today’s figures paint a very worrying picture for future housing supply. The positive planning reforms announced this week are very positive, but home builders continue to grapple with rising policy costs and new taxes, making investment hard to justify.
“Building on improvements to both the planning system and the planning process, ministers now need to consider these rising taxes, new levies and excessive policy costs that make many sites unviable to develop.
“Meanwhile, the lack of affordable mortgage lending is preventing many young people without access to the Bank of Mum and Dad from getting onto the housing ladder, undermining the industry’s ability to build more homes and further entrenching social inequalities.”
HTB call for return of the Help to Buy scheme
In a report published in November, the Home Builders Federation stated that in the previous Help to Buy scheme, over a third of a million people utilising the scheme purchased a home, with nearly half of the loans being fully repaid and the government receiving a return of £1.02bn.
Even with the scheme at an end, the remaining loans are still creating £1m per day for the Exchequer, and the final figure is expected to be around £2bn with an interest of £358m.
At the time, Neil Jefferson said: “Help to Buy has clearly delivered for both aspiring homeowners and the taxpayer. Nearly half of the loans have now been repaid, returning over £1bn in profit on loan values alone, and more than £1.3bn in total returns.
“This is a powerful example of a housing policy that worked. It boosted supply, supported jobs, and enabled hundreds of thousands of people to realise their dream of home ownership.
“With affordability so constrained for prospective first-time buyers, it is frustrating that no support for home ownership is in place today. We need a new targeted scheme that will support young people, helping them overcome barriers to homeownership and ensuring the next generation can access affordable and sustainable mortgage finance.”
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