UK Housing Market Update – June 2025
June saw the UK housing market balancing cautious optimism with structural challenges. Government pledges of record social and affordable housing funding, a new National Housing Bank, and planning system reforms offer hope against long-term undersupply. However, planning permissions have hit record lows, Section 106 delays persist, and housebuilders face margin pressures.
Government policy boosts:
The Chancellor’s Spending Review unveiled a £39bn commitment for affordable and social housing over the next decade, the largest in 50 years, with an additional £10bn for financial investments via Homes England. This has been widely welcomed by the sector, with the National Housing Federation noting it will “kickstart a generational boost” in social home delivery.
The Government also launched a National Housing Bank under Homes England, aiming to unlock £53bn of private investment to deliver over 500,000 new homes while supporting the Affordable Homes Programme. Alongside, a new AI tool, Extract, was launched to digitise planning records in minutes, aiming to speed up the planning process.
The MHCLG also announced a streamlined planning appeals process, encouraging “submit once, submit right” to accelerate decisions, while the Construction Skills Mission Board launched initiatives to recruit 100,000 extra construction workers annually, supported by £625m in new skills funding.
Market resilience despite affordability pressures
The housing market remained resilient, though affordability pressures persist:
- Halifax reported a -0.4% monthly fall with annual growth slowing to 2.5%, while Nationwide saw a 0.5% rise, with annual growth at 3.5%.
- The average property price is now £296,648 (Halifax) and £273,427 (Nationwide).
- Rightmove’s June index reported a -0.3% dip in asking prices, reflecting sellers adjusting expectations amid competitive conditions.
- ONS data for April showed a -2.7% monthly fall with annual prices up 3.5% to £265,000.
Affordability remains stretched, with first-time buyers now borrowing on 31-year mortgage terms to manage higher rates, and rural areas continue to outpace urban price growth.
Construction output and industry performance
The S&P Global UK Construction PMI reported a slowing decline in May (47.9), but housebuilding remained the weakest segment (45.1). ONS data showed construction output rose 0.9% in April, the third consecutive month of growth, driven by infrastructure and commercial sectors.
In the industry:
- Crest Nicholson returned to profit (£9.4m pre-tax for H1), while Bellway reported strong spring demand with up to 8,700 completions expected this year.
- Gleeson Homes issued a profit warning (15-20% below expectations) due to flat prices and rising build costs.
- The Competition and Markets Authority extended its investigation into anti-competitive practices by seven major developers.
Check out our services...
Civil Engineering Group
Cost & Commercial Group
Infrastructure/Abnormal/Site-Wide Cost Planning. We have vast experience in structuring, maintaining and managing budgets of hundreds of million pounds, en...
View More
Development Management Group
We are one of the UK's leading partners to blue chip developers, funders and land promoters. From securing planning consents for major house building schem...
View More
Land, Development and Communities Group
Our Land, Development and Communities Group (LDC) has built an enviable reputation across our industry as leading providers of a variety of services with t...
View More
Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Group
Our Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Group has a renowned team of award-winning, energy-centric building services specialists.
We are a creative te...
View More
Our work on the Development Cycle
Our services are available for specific stages of a project or for a projects' entire lifecycle – it all comes down to what you need and when. We are adapt...
View More
Structural Engineering Group
Our Structural Engineering Group can trace its origins back to its formation in 1984. From the outset it quickly gained a reputation for producing practica...
View More
More News
Integrated Acoustic Consultancy Services
May 19, 2026
Expanding our specialist services to include integrated acoustic consultancy strengthens how we support clients across the full development lifecycle. By bringing together building acoustics and environmental noise and vibration, we are able to provide a more coordinated and consistent approach to sound, from early feasibility through to detailed design. This article introduces our acoustics capability at Brookbanks, outlining the expertise within the team and the role acoustics plays in delivering compliant, well‑designed and high‑performing environments across a range of sectors.
The Risk of Stalling Healthcare Projects
May 12, 2026
The Risks Stalling Healthcare Projects There's a version of every healthcare project that looks deliverable on paper. The site sits within the right catchment. It's in the strategic outline case. The ICS has signed off on the clinical model, the design team have done something genuinely thoughtful with the brief, and the project team is cautiously optimistic about hitting the OBC submission window. Then the ground investigation comes back… or the highways authority raises a junction capacity objection that nobody reviewed thoroughly during site selection. Or the drainage strategy is finalised two weeks before the planning committee, and the mitigation required has discreetly added seven figures to a capital budget that is already full of assumptions. This might be “just how things are”, but it’s important to remember that healthcare projects carry specific consequences that a delayed commercial scheme may not have.
Podcast Episode #16: Material Matters, Cut and Fill
May 5, 2026
Explore how early cut and fill strategy, sequencing and on‑site material management shape cost, programme and environmental outcomes on development projects.