Housebuilding numbers in London have collapsed as developers abandon projects, new analysis reveals.

Work on one in every six developments in the capital has halted as buyer demand falls, it has emerged.

And the building that has stopped would have provided up to 5,400 homes, according to engineering firm Molior Consultancy, the Daily Telegraph reports. Meanwhile, total sales are expected to sink well below 10,000 this year.

Emergency measures

And it is reported that London’s Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan and Housing Secretary Steve Reed are planning emergency measures to rescue the situation.

The Government is to cut the affordable element of each development from 35% to 25%, and to relax some of the design requirements.

Trickle

Ben Walden-Jones, Head of Residential Development at JLL, says construction had slowed to a “trickle”.

“Whereas we usually would have at least two launches a month in London, we now only get about one launch every two months. It’s as low as five schemes a year coming through.

The number of sales that we’re doing has just collapsed.”

“And the number of sales that we’re doing has just collapsed. Our competitors are in the same boat. No one is having any better luck, really.”

A spokesman for the Mayor told the Telegraph that Khan was “working with the Housing Secretary on a package of reforms to boost housebuilding in the capital”.

“The changes will aim to unblock stalled sites by cutting red tape and give the Mayor stronger levers to approve homes and bring thousands of homes forward more quickly”.

Industry comment

Simon Cox, Managing Director at Walter Cooper

“London’s housing market is in a dire state, with external factors such as skyrocketing material costs and the Building Safety Regulator wreaking havoc on developers,” he says.

“Government intervention has come at the right time, and the measures announced put development in a strong place, with the time-limited emergency relief from the CIL and a reduction in affordable housing targets working to boost viability.

“Our housing crisis is fundamentally down to a lack of development, so while on the surface a reduced target of 20% may appear to dilute social housing stock, actually I suspect we’ll see figures increase as more developments are brought forward. 20% of a £1 is better than 50% of nothing, which is what we were facing prior to these measures.

“This is a London-centric announcement, however, if proven successful then there is no reason why this shouldn’t be used as a blueprint for delivering housing quicker across other regional cities struggling to progress build programmes.”

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