London’s housing delivery has collapsed due to regulatory delays, high costs, and stalled developments, but fast-tracking planning reform and supporting SME housebuilders could unlock thousands of homes, revive derelict sites, and make housing more affordable, says Paul Rickard

London, once the UK’s housing and regeneration powerhouse, has seen the delivery of new homes plunge to near record lows. Burdened by lengthy delays at the Building Safety Regulator (BSR), a challenging sales environment, and it simply not being economically viable to even make a start on site, many of our housebuilders have downed tools and paused their delivery pipelines.

The consequences are all around us: unfinished development sites; planning consents not being translated into construction activity; rents continuing to rise and more and more people, especially in the 25-45 age group, being priced out and forced to leave the capital.

According to the latest data, nearly 30 per cent of London’s housing delivery comes from small sites (defined as 0.25 hectares or under). Yet according to recent data from consultancy, Molior, 70 per cent of the small and medium sized sites with planning permission are yet to see a start on site in London.

Not only are economically key workers increasingly being squeezed out of inner London, driven towards the suburbs and beyond,........

© City A.M.