Major housebuilder pulls out of London new homes market
Jennie Daly of Taylor Wimpey warns that viability of building new properties in the Capital has "evaporated".
Taylor Wimpey has stopped building new homes in London after warning the viability of new schemes has “evaporated”.
The housebuilder says the costs of getting new development going are now prohibitively expensive.
Fundamentally broken
Jennie Daly, the company’s CEO (pictured), told The Times’ The Business podcast: “Baseline viability is, I think, fundamentally broken in London.
“The reward for undertaking what is a very high-risk form of development in London has just evaporated.”
She said there were “a number of issues” that have made building new homes in the capital very difficult. “Policies [that] have just added in cost”, she added, such as a rule requiring every high-rise over 18 metres to install a second staircase.
The reward for undertaking what is a very high-risk form of development in London has just evaporated.”
In August, Taylor Wimpey cut the number of its expected completions in London. It forecasted the number to be between 10,600 and 10,800 this year, excluding homes built in joint ventures.
The firm had said in March it expected to complete 10,600 to 11,000 new-builds this year, which would already have been 4% below the 2025 figure.
In the first six months of 2026, the company totalled 4,986 new homes, down from 5,264 a year ago.
A Mayor of London spokesperson told The Times he was “doing everything he can to deliver more homes”, and that he “recognises the challenges facing housebuilders”.
