The Labour government's flagship pledge to build 1.5 million new homes is on course to fall short by a significant margin, with fresh data revealing a persistent gap between ambition and reality in England's housing market.
Annual Figures Fall Short of Crucial Target
According to registrations for Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs), a mandatory requirement for all new builds, just 204,000 homes were constructed in England between January and December 2025. This figure casts serious doubt on the administration's ability to hit its target, which requires an average of 300,000 new homes annually—a rate not consistently achieved since the 1970s.
The provisional data, covering the period from 5 January to 14 December, showed an average of 4,079 EPC registrations per week. This represents a slight decline from the 2024 average of 4,206, which itself had fallen from 4,360 in 2023. The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government is expected to release a complete quarterly report towards the end of January.
Planning Pipeline Dries Up to 12-Year Low
Compounding the problem, the pipeline for future construction has also shrunk dramatically. New figures show that planning permission was granted for only 208,000 homes in the 12 months to September 2025. This marks a 15% drop from the 245,000 permissions granted in the year to September 2024 and is the lowest annual total since 2013.
A spokesperson for the department attributed the slowdown to a "broken planning system we inherited," emphasising that fixing it "won't happen overnight." They pointed to recent systemic overhauls designed to turn the situation around and meet the 1.5 million homes objective.
Ministers Vow to Overhaul System Amid Defiance
Despite the challenging statistics, senior ministers remain publicly defiant. Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has stood firm on the housing target, while Housing Secretary Steve Reed this week launched a major consultation on a revamped National Planning Policy Framework.
Reed stated the government had "already laid the groundwork to get Britain building" but acknowledged their planning overhaul was "only the first step." He vowed to "go further than ever before to hit 1.5 million homes and place the key to homeownership into the hands of thousands more hardworking people and families." The proposed reforms build on previous changes to restore mandatory housing targets and prioritise construction on brownfield land.
With the current annual building rate hovering around 200,000, the government faces a steep challenge to nearly double output and avoid missing its landmark pledge by an estimated half a million homes.
