Savills has warned that new build sales numbers are now the lowest since before the financial crash more than 15 years ago.

The news will be a major blow to new Housing Secretary Steve Reed (main picture), who vowed to “build, baby build” when he got the job last month.

With the Government set on trying to build 1.5 million homes within five years, this will not go down well with ministers.

And the impact of the figures will be even greater considering sales totals were lower even than during the Covid pandemic.

Plummeted

The Savills’ data, which is included in a submission to the Treasury ahead of next month’s Budget, shows that new-build sales have plummeted to levels last seen in 2007 and 2008, when the UK was about to fall into a financial crisis, the Daily Telegraph reports.

“Sales rates over the summer of 2025 have reached their lowest levels since the global financial crisis,” Savills said.

The situation is worst in the East and South East of England, the agency said.

And a sales slump this summer “makes it hard to see how the government can reach its target to deliver 1.5 million homes in England over the five years to March 2029”.

Collapsed

Last week, it emerged that housebuilding numbers in London had collapsed as developers abandoned projects.

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

And the building that stopped would have provided up to 5,400 homes. Meanwhile, total sales were expected to sink well below 10,000 this year.

London’s Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan and Reed announced emergency measures to rescue the situation, cutting the affordable element of each development from 35% to 25%.

New build sales slip to lowest in over 15 years

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