Housing planning approvals fall 9% year-on-year

Planning approvals for housing schemes in England have fallen 9% year-on-year.

New statistics published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) show 7,400 residential applications were given the green light in the final quarter of 2024, down from 8,100 in the same period the previous year.

The latest provisional figures also show that permission for 241,000 homes was given in the year to December 2024, down 3% from the 248,000 homes granted permission in the year to December 2023.

The number of planning applications also fell in the final quarter of 2024 7% compared to the previous year, while the number of decisions made also fell 7% over the same time period.

Sites with nine units or less made up 78% of the total number of housing projects granted in 2024, with 7,520 schemes and a sum of 20,500 units. This compares to a figure of 22,300 approvals in figures provided in a seperate for the previous year.

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Brian Berry, chief executive of the Federation of Master Builders called for more support for small housebuilders delivering projects with nine or fewer properties.

He said: “It is deeply disappointing to see the number of planning applications granted for developments of 9 or fewer units in 2024 were down significantly on the previous year, by almost 2,000.

“This means a mere 9% of homes delivered will be from the nation’s small local house builders - an increasingly dwindling part of the sector. The Housing Minister has been clear about the need to diversify the housing market away from a reliance on a small number of high-volume builders, yet today’s figures show more needs to be done.”

The figures come as the British Property Federation calls for the recruitment of an extra 3,000 planners.