Sir Sadiq Khan has flatly rejected a claim by Manchester chiefs that more homes are being built in the northern city than in the capital.
The London Mayor argued that there were nine times as many new homes built in the capital in the most recent financial year than in Manchester.
The row erupted as Andy Burnham was highlighting in a speech in Manchester his devolution revolution which could see tens of thousands of jobs going from Whitehall.
Angela Rayner returns as Housing Secretary
It came as Housing Secretary Angela Rayner ruled out rent controls and admitted that the new Government may struggle to meet Labour's goal of building 1.5 million new homes by 2029.
Sir Sadiq, who said Mr Burnham had had a “really good first few days in No10” with announcements on homelessness, energy bills and bus fares, was responding to claims from Manchester City Council that it is ahead of London in the housebuilding race.
Figures published by the council showed a total of 4,766 homes were built in Manchester in 2025/26.
The city leaders said this was more than all of the Greater London area, which they said managed to build 4,261 homes in the same period.
London's housing data, they said, was taken from London Datastore, a website by the Greater London Authority.
Mayor's office cites official statistics
But a spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: “Based on official government statistics on new homes, there were 32,949 new homes built in London in financial year 2025/26, compared to 3,653 in Manchester City Council.
“Since becoming Mayor, Sadiq has made affordable housing a top priority and has delivered significant progress. “This includes building more new council homes than at any time since the 1970s and, prior to the pandemic, completing more new homes in London than at any time since the 1930s.”
Sir Sadiq's political opponents, though, say he is failing on tackling the capital's housing crisis. Housebuilding in London has slowed dramatically but Sir Sadiq agreed last October with the then Housing Secretary Steve Reed to scale back the amount of affordable housing required in some schemes to try to get more developments going.
Manchester's housing surge amid political change
Manchester's housing surge comes at a time of major political change in the country.
Former Greater Manchester Mayor Mr Burnham has vowed to deliver the “biggest devolution of power in modern times”.
It is due to be driven by a No10 North based in Manchester.
In the pipeline for Manchester's future, councillors want to expand the boundary of the city centre and kick on with a plan to build 36,000 homes by 2032.
“We are ramping up delivery by working closely with our housing partners, by accessing grant funding and using council-owned brownfield land to deliver the homes we need,” said Coun Gavin White, who leads on housing matters at Manchester council.
Building homes at affordable rates is a key part of the city's plan – that's properties which are priced below market rates to varying extents.
According to the council, more affordable homes were built last year than at any point since the late 1990s.
This led to 901 affordable tenure homes being completed, of which around half (439) were for social rent.
Calls for rent controls in Manchester
Manchester's housing boom has come alongside calls from city leaders for a landmark move to devolve powers over rent controls.
This is aimed at tackling a 'stark' problem over affordability and access to housing, as the city's average rents have hit the £1,300 mark.
Deansgate Councillor Marcus Johns said at a council meeting last week: “We are asking government to devolve powers to our new Greater Manchester mayor to develop limits on rents.”
According to Joseph Rowntree Foundation, a charity that leads research into poverty, rent controls which limit rises at the lower of inflation or earnings could save the average renter in the north west £310 a year, or £450 on average across the UK.
