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UK Residential Development Land Index Q1 鈥� 2023 

The UK faces a critical housing shortage as delivery remains far short of the governments 300,000 annual target.

In London alone, the number of completed new homes in the first quarter of the year fell below 4,000 to a nine-year low.

But at the same time, housebuilders are facing a perfect storm of challenges right now that combined, are slowing down development.

The 博鱼体育集团 Frank UK Residential Development Land Index Report, which surveyed over 40 volume and SME housebuilders, asked what they thought would most challenge the sector over the next few months.

The results of the survey revealed a number of hurdles in the way of housebuilders, including:

Planning delays

At the top of the list of concerns are planning delays.

Uncertainty around national planning policy is also creating uncertainty for builders, developers and planners and several local authorities have paused or abandoned their local plans as a result.

Land availability 

Another concern for those in the survey is that there is less allocated land coming forward for development.

This has resulted in more competition for land,  making 鈥榓vailability of land鈥� the second biggest current concern for the industry.

Mortgage rates

Higher mortgage rates have also weakened demand.

A third of housebuilders said mortgage availability and cost will be a key challenge for the sector over the next few months, and mortgage approvals remain well below pre-pandemic averages.