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New measures announced to ramp up housebuilding in London

ended 23. October 2025

Tens of thousands of Londoners are set to benefit from emergency measures to significantly ramp up housebuilding, unlock stalled sites and ensure more affordable homes are being built across the capital, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government announced today.

Housebuilding in London, the Government claims, has faced significant challenges over recent years due to a combination of the legacy of the previous government, impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, high interest rates, spiralling construction costs, regulatory blockers and wider economic conditions. This has created a perfect storm, resulting in more than a third of boroughs recording zero housebuilding starts in the first quarter of this year.   

Accordingly, the Housing Secretary and Mayor of London have agreed today (Thursday 23rd October) to take decisive action to tackle the housebuilding crisis facing the capital and make it easier for people struggling to find a place to call home.  

Time-limited, emergency measures, which are subject to consultation, will unlock development by making sites more viable and incentivise developers to get spades in the ground through a fast-tracked planning process for sites with at least 20 per cent affordable housing. Targeted measures will tackle squeezed viability, including the removal of design guidance that constrains density and temporary relief from development levies for schemes able to start promptly and guarantee affordable homes for Londoners. 

Today’s package will mean that more homes – including affordable homes and those for social rent – can be built and built faster. This ‘use it or lose it’ route will come with strict conditions to speed up the delivery of new homes, which if not met will require developers to share their profits with local boroughs to deliver more affordable homes. Any thoughts, ASAP please. Genuine workable idea or more empty promises?

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Scott GallacherVerified
Director at Rowley Turton
Just what we need — more houses in one of the most expensive areas of the UK. Successive governments have talked about rebalancing the country, but when push comes to shove, Whitehall always seems to have a London-first approach. The capital’s housing shortage is real, but focusing resources there risks widening the North–South divide. If we’re serious about solving the housing crisis, we need to encourage not just new homes, but also businesses and jobs across the rest of the country to create truly balanced growth.