England Granted Permission for 212,000 Homes in the Year to June, 12% Fewer Than a Year Earlier

English councils granted permission for 212,000 homes in the year to June 2026, down from 242,000, while planning decisions fell 8% in the second quarter.

District planning authorities in England granted permission for 212,000 homes in the year to June 2026, down 12% from the 242,000 granted in the year to June 2025, according to figures published on 24 September 2026 by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. In the April-to-June quarter alone, councils decided 74,500 planning applications, 8% fewer than a year earlier, and received 78,700, a fall of 2%.

The grant rate held while the volume did not

Of the second-quarter decisions, 65,200 were granted, which is 88% of all decisions and unchanged from the same quarter of 2025. Councils are not refusing a larger share of what reaches them; they are simply handling less. Across the full year to June, 314,200 applications were received and 291,900 decided, both down 5%, with 254,100 granted at an 87% rate. The grant rate varied from 84% in London to 92% in the North East, and the change in applications received ranged from an 8% fall in the North East to a 3% rise in the North West.

Much of the decline came from householder work such as extensions and loft conversions: 37,700 decisions, down 14% on the year, making up 51% of all decisions against 54% a year earlier.

Residential decisions were steadier than the headline

Strictly residential cases held up better. Councils made 9,100 residential decisions and granted 6,900, each down 2%. Within that, 900 major residential schemes were granted, down 3%, and 6,000 minor ones, down 2%. Commercial cases fell further: 1,600 decisions and 1,400 grants, both down 6%.

The pipeline is shifting to its earliest stage

The most telling split is between the two routes into the system. Over the year to June, outline applications numbered 2,930, down 6%, but the units they covered rose 41% to 246,000. Detailed applications were flat at 22,730, and the units they covered fell 8% to 274,000. Developers are still putting large sites into the system, but increasingly at the stage that establishes the principle of development rather than the stage that lets building start. That is a pipeline lengthening, not filling.

Speed tells a similar story. Some 91% of major applications were decided within 13 weeks or an agreed extension, unchanged on the year, but only 19% were decided inside the statutory 13 weeks, down 4 percentage points. For minor applications, 87% met the deadline or an agreed extension, down 1 point, while 39% met the statutory 8 weeks, down 3 points. Agreed extensions, not statutory deadlines, are doing the work.

Supply is tightening while prices barely move

The price side has not reacted. UK house prices are running about 2.0% above a year earlier, a modest pace that has held through the permission slowdown. The average dwelling is worth roughly 367,751 US dollars and the average private rent about 1,883 dollars a month, which together give a gross yield of 6.14%, or 5.01% after an effective 18.51% tax on a non-resident letting. Over ten years UK prices are up 37.9%, and 13.8% over five, which is modest by European standards and is reflected in a bubble-risk score of 41, in the moderate band. Round-trip transaction costs run to 9.8%.

One caveat belongs with those figures: the United Kingdom publishes no price per square metre. The per-square-metre values of 3,831 dollars for sale and 19.61 dollars a month for rent are the official per-dwelling numbers divided by the same 96 square metre average floor area taken from the English Housing Survey. Because the same divisor is used on both sides, the yield is unaffected; only the price level is an estimate.

Sources: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), Planning applications in England April to June 2026, statistical release, 24 September 2026 https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/planning-applications-in-england-april-to-june-2026/planning-applications-in-england-april-to-june-2026-statistical-release

Market data: United Kingdom