The key to boosting Britain’s housing supply in 2025: David Thomas

The key to boosting housing supply is reforming planning, looking at ways to support and underpin demand and ensuring long term certainty around regulation.

It is also vital to create a stable economic climate that gives confidence to consumers and business alike.

The outlook for housebuilders has improved over the past year, with inflation falling below target for the time-being and a further interest rate cut coming in November.

We have got some welcome political stability and a Government focused on economic growth at least in part to be delivered by construction and housebuilding.

However, mortgages are still at high rates compared with the last decade, the budget didn’t offer any support for homebuyers – in fact stamp duty is due to return to higher levels in the spring – and the Office for Budget Responsibility downgraded its predictions on future growth.

The next six months are vital for the Government to demonstrate that it can deliver the growth it has committed to and boost consumer confidence.

Quick wins which can kickstart housing are looking at sites across the country that are currently stalled, either in planning appeals or because they are caught up in funding red-tape. This includes sites that can’t access the Brownfield Land Release Fund.

I hope that the Government implements the ambitious changes we need to see to planning on the supply side and that it looks seriously at ways to support buyers, particularly first-time buyers, to get a foot on the ladder.

Whilst customer demand is high it continues to be sensitive to the wider economy and consumer confidence.

Over the past six months we have seen more stable market conditions with increased mortgage availability and affordability.

It will take some time for customer confidence to fully recover from the macroeconomic headwinds that havfe been faced over the past two years, but we are encouraged by the solid trading we have experienced this year.

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It’s imperative that as well as boosting the number of new homes built each year, these homes are built sustainably.

The Future Homes Standard is a step in the right direction towards delivering net zero and provides a benchmark for the sector to be held to account.

While the Standard has been a long time coming, this has given the industry time to prepare.

The year 2025, promises to be a year of innovation and strides forward in the housebuilding sector, which can only benefit those looking to find a stable home to rent, those who want to get on to the housing ladder, step up or downsize.

There is real intent to build the homes that are needed in communities across the country.