London named worst region for housing delivery

London named as the worst region for new housing delivery over the last decade

Market analysis from eXp UK, the platform for personal estate agents, has found that over the last decade, London ranks as the worst performing region of England when it comes to the average number of new home completions each year.

eXp UK analysed data on the number of dwellings completed each year, across each region of England, and how these regions have performed both annually and over the last 10 years.

The data shows that last year (2022-23), some 174,600 new homes were delivered across England, with the South East seeing the largest number of new homes delivered at 30,960.

On an annual basis, 2% more homes were delivered across the nation with London topping the table in this respect with an 18% uplift in new homes completed.

The East of England also saw a considerable increase of 17%, followed by the East Midlands (7%), South West (5%) and Yorkshire and the Humber (5%).

The number of new dwellings completed fell by 17% across the North West versus the previous year, with the West Midlands (-6%) and South East (-2%) also down year on year.

However, when analysing annual housing delivery over the last decade, the research by eXp UK shows that it’s actually London that ranks as the worst performing region, despite posting a strong year on year performance.

Over the last 10 years, the average level of new homes reaching the market across England has increased by 4.1% each year.

London is the only region to have seen negative movement in this respect, with new dwelling completions falling by -0.3% each year on average over the last decade.

In contrast, the North West has seen an average increase of 10% per year where new home delivery is concerned, followed by the West Midlands (8%) and the South East (4%).

Head of eXp UK, Adam Day, commented:

“Housing delivery is, and always has been, a controversial topic and we’re yet to see the Government make any meaningful impact when it comes to addressing the current housing crisis.

But it’s not just top line housing delivery that creates an out of kilter housing market, as our research shows, the level of new homes completed not only varies from one region to the next in terms of volume, but also the increase in this volume.

So while the London market may have enjoyed a very strong year, it actually ranks as the worst region when it comes to the delivery of new homes on a long-term basis.”