Housing: Construction

The Housing Delivery Test measures whether planned requirements (or, in some cases, local housing need) have been met over the preceding three years. The 5-year housing land supply is a calculation of whether there is a deliverable supply of homes to meet the planned housing requirement (or, in some circumstances, local housing need) over the next five years. Both policies encourage local planning authorities to promote a sufficient supply of land for housing and support delivery.

To significantly boost housing delivery, we must close the gap between the amount of land allocated and permissioned and the number of homes being completed. The Competition and Markets Authority and others have concluded that most homes in England are not built as fast as they can be constructed, once permission is granted, but only as fast as the developer expects to sell them at local second-hand market prices. This leads to a build out rate for large sites which can take decades to complete. While it is commercially rational for developers to operate in this way, the systemic impact is a lower level of housebuilding than is needed. That is why the government is taking action to speed up built out.

In May 2025, we published a Planning Reform Working Paper: Speeding Up Build Out inviting views on further action the government should take to speed up homes being built. It can be found on gov.uk here. On the same day, we launched a technical consultation on implementing measures to improve the transparency of build rates from new residential developments, which includes proposals to implement provisions in Section 113 of the LURA on the power to decline to determine applications. That consultation can be found on gov.uk here. Utilising the responses received to both consultations, we are progressing a package of build out transparency and accountability measures and will set out our next steps in due course.

Between 16 December 2025 and 10 March 2026, we consulted on a new NPPF. The consultation on the revised Framework, which can be found on gov.uk here, included proposals designed to ensure major development proposals are capable of being implemented within a reasonable period – taking into account tenure mix, local market conditions and development history of the site. We are currently analysing the feedback received and will publish our response in due course.