Home Builders Federation

⌛ One week to go until our open Wales webinar on the 2026 Senedd election! A month on from the election, understanding the shifting political and policy landscape is critical for the home building industry. Join us for a timely discussion exploring what the results mean for housing and planning policy in Wales, including key decision-makers, emerging priorities, and what to expect next for the sector. We’ll also look ahead to upcoming HBF policy work on home building challenges in Wales, alongside planned engagement activity to support calls for intervention on housing policy. We’ll hear from an expert panel, including: 🗣 Mark Harris, Planning and Policy Advisor for Wales, HBF 🗣 Alexander Magee, Account Director, Cavendish Consulting 🗣 Laurence Thompson, Policy and Campaigns Officer, HBF 📅 Wednesday 3 June ⏰ 12.30pm to 2pm Register to attend 👉hbf.co.uk/events/the-202…

You can also sign up to @No_Falls to access its resources hub 👇️ nofallsweek.org/get-involved/

This week is #NoFallsWeek Ensuring safe working practices while working at height is essential in home building. Take the time to view the statistics and useful resources for industry 👇️

Starting off the week by wishing everyone good luck with the second week of Women into Home Building placements 👷‍♀️

We’re experiencing a sharp downturn in recent housing delivery, with just 208,000 new homes completed in 2024/25, down 16% from the 2020 peak… … the culmination of mounting viability pressures. Government is relying on the home building industry to meet its housing ambitions. Without urgent intervention to address these cumulative pressures, the financial viability of new housing developments will continue to erode, putting the delivery of private and affordable homes across England at serious risk.

⬆️ £37,000 in increased material and labour costs due to high levels of inflation ⬆️ £7,000 in additional potential site-specific costs, like nutrient mitigation requirements

An overview of the additional average costs layered on to delivering each new build home since 2020… …and what that really means for housing delivery 👇

Final call for views: our Quarterly SME Developer Sentiment Survey closes at 5pm on Monday 18 May. We need your insights on 👇 • The overall housing market outlook over the next three months • The impact of current market conditions on your willingness to start new sites • Whether you expect your business to purchase more land for development in the next three months • The top three demand-side factors limiting your ability to deliver new homes • The top three supply-side factors limiting your ability to deliver new homes • And more Our survey takes just 5 minutes to complete. Fill it out now at form.jotform.com/260972735078366

How are regulation, taxation, inflation and policy costs impacting the viability of residential development? Our research sets out the increased costs per home 👇 We support the ambition behind the majority of these policies, but policymakers still do not fully understand their combined impact.. Together, these pressures are undermining viability, making housing delivery unsustainable for many businesses across England and Wales. We can already see the impact - residential planning applications are tumbling and completions are slowing. If Government is serious about working with the private sector to meet its housing ambitions, action needs to be taken to create the right conditions for it to do so.

How would you describe your overall outlook on the housing market over the next three months in each region you operate in? Your insight on this and wider market issues will help us build a clearer picture of current conditions. Take 5 minutes to complete our survey 👉 form.jotform.com/260972735078366

Confirmed: one fireside conversation, one panel debate, one Chair, and five fantastic participants. We’re looking forward to sponsoring our first event at @UKREiiF next Wednesday, 20 May. Join us from 4pm in the Asian and African Gallery - and if you can't make our session, do join us for a drink afterwards. Let us know if you will be in Leeds next week 👇

2 days to go ⏳️ Are you attending the HBF Midlands Dinner? 📅 Thursday 14 May 📍 Eastside Rooms, Birmingham

Building a new home now costs an estimated £76,000 more than it did in 2020. What share of the average new home value is that? #ViabilityCrunch

Share your insights by 5pm next Monday, 18 May. Our latest Quarterly SME Sentiment Survey is now open. It takes less than 5 minutes to complete and provides valuable insight into business sentiment and investment intentions among SME home builders across England and Wales. Your input helps us build a clearer picture of market conditions and generate actionable insights for the industry. 👉 form.jotform.com/260972735078366

How will yesterday’s Senedd election impact the home building industry in Wales? Join this upcoming webinar, open to all, which will explore what the 2026 Senedd Election results mean for housing and planning policy, and how the evolving political landscape is likely to shape the sector. A month on from the election, the session will provide a timely update on key decision-makers, emerging priorities, and expected policy developments. It will also look at insights from upcoming HBF policy work and planned engagement activity with the new Welsh Government. Chaired by Mark Harris, Planning and Policy Advisor for Wales at HBF, the panel will feature expert speakers offering practical insights and forward-looking analysis. 📅 Wednesday 3 June ⏰ 12.30pm to 2pm 💻 Online 🗨 Opportunity to submit questions to the panel Register for the session 👇 hbf.co.uk/events/the-202…

It's election day in Wales. With housing delivery near historic lows, urgent government action is needed to reverse these trends. We're calling the next Welsh Government to support our calls for: 🔹 A national all-tenure housing target 🔹 Up-to-date Local Development Plans 🔹 Extending Help to Buy Wales beyond 2026 We look forward to working with the next Welsh Government to remove barriers and support delivery.

Find our full analysis on the viability of home building in our latest report - The Viability Crunch hbf.co.uk/research-insig…

The additional costs layered onto home building over recent years are having a crippling impact on the industry’s ability to deliver desperately needed new homes. We have analysed the viability of home building in 2026 👇 Our latest research shows that since 2020 £76,000 has been added to the average cost of delivering every new home. Policy, taxation and regulatory pressures have created an environment where building has become so expensive that, for many, it no longer makes economic sense to continue. As a result we are seeing a sharp downturn in housing delivery. Just 208,000 new homes were completed in 2024/25 - down 16% from the 2020 peak. For years, policymakers have relied on the assumption that rising costs could be offset by falling land values. That assumption has now reached its limit. Land values can only fall so far before the supply of land is constrained. The continued decline in sites securing planning permission shows how difficult it is to push this any further. Just as new taxes, levies and regulations from across Whitehall have created this crisis, Government must now act decisively to reverse the impact… …Starting with a moratorium on new policy costs, taxes and levies on home building and a full review of the costs that have been layered on and their cumulative impact. Without urgent action, viability will continue to prevent the delivery of much-needed private and Affordable Housing, more SME builders will disappear and communities will lose out on vital investment in their areas.