Housing approvals fall 21% across England
In the North West, the figure is a starker 39% decline with 3,939 homes approved in the second quarter of this year compared to the 6,501 approved in the first.
Those 3,939 homes represent 264 different detailed applications.
For perspective, Q2 of last year saw 5,858 homes approved across 241 applications.
The data comes from the Home Builders Federation’s latest Housing Pipeline, which was published today.
The report, which utilises research from Glenigan, painted a stark picture of the current planning situation. Looking at England specifically, the report showed that 45,315 homes received planning permission during the second quarter of this year. This is the lowest quarterly total since 2012.
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“These figures show a housing pipeline being squeezed to historically low levels, with too few planning permissions coming forward to meet the country’s housing needs,” said HBF chief executive Neil Jefferson.
“The cumulative impact of higher taxes, increasing costs, and layers of new policy requirements is making more and more sites unviable, while weak demand has been compounded by the absence of meaningful government support for first-time buyers and a lack of affordable mortgage lending.
“The Prime Minister’s announcement of a first-time buyer support scheme is a hugely welcome step, and we look forward to working with government to ensure the scheme is accessible to as many potential purchasers and home builders as possible.”
While across England the number of homes approved was the lowest this quarter since 2012, that was not the case in the North West. The region’s lowest point in recent years was the third quarter of 2025, with just 3,168 homes approved.
