Burnham’s Building Bunglers Letting Britain Down
Figures from NHBC show a 5% drop in the number of new homes registered to be built in Q2 against 2025, making a mockery of Labour’s promise to build 1.5 million new homes this Parliament.
There were only 29,162 new homes registered to be built in against 30,259 in 2025 according to the National House Building Council.
With the Ardmore Group Holdings, Ardmore Group, Byrne Properties, Celebration Homes, Paddington Construction, Systemhaven and Byrne Estates all seeking company voluntary arrangements and suppliers to Vistry being warned their payment insurance protection will not be honoured, it is a dire time for some of Britains best known housebuilders and their contractors and construction product suppliers.
That second quarter
In a quarter marked by mounting cost pressures and geopolitical uncertainty, private sector registrations fell 5% to 19,045, compared to 20,097 in Q2 2025. Registrations in the rental and affordable sector were broadly unchanged from the second quarter of 2025, with 10,117 new homes registered compared with 10,162 a year earlier.
Council houses to the rescue
Daniel Pearce, the chief strategy officer at NHBC explained: “Elevated interest rates, geopolitical volatility and rising costs combined with affordability pressures impacting consumer demand, meant that many house builders slowed their build programmes in the second quarter.
“While the decline in new home registrations will come as little surprise, we welcome the commitment from new Prime Minister Andy Burnham to roll out the most ambitious council house-building programme since the post-war era. This will be an important lever in boosting overall supply.
“Greater clarity on the mechanisms and funding to deliver this will be welcomed by the industry and house builders stand ready to play their part.
Planning reform
“Accelerating planning reform and easing regulatory burdens would also help boost housing supply, while measures to improve affordability for prospective buyers are essential to unlocking demand.”
Picture: Private housebuilding is in the doldrums with only council housing projects looking to ease the burden.
A 5% fall in new home registrations underlines the continuing pressure on private housebuilding, with NHBC pointing to council housing, planning reform and improved affordability as potential routes to restoring supply.
