There has been a steady increase in the last eight years in the number of home planning applications granted as a percentage of all applications, up from 73.5% in 2010 to 80.5% now, new research has found.
This is despite slower market conditions seeing a notable drop in the number of applications received during 2018, down 4% from an eight year average of 471,000 to 453,000, according to the report from estate agency comparison site GetAgent.
However the introduced ethos of ‘presumption towards approval’ via the National Planning Policy Framework does look to have boosted approvals, with an increase of 30,000 planning permissions per annum since 2014, it points out.
During this time, planning applications themselves remained fairly static but not only has there been a lift in planning approvals but more importantly, the number of actual houses being built as a percentage of these approvals has also increased by 30% to 42% since 2010.
Even with the help of a more efficient planning system redistributing weight in favour of approvals builders are keep up the pace, the report suggests and have completed more homes as a percentage of these bolstered approval levels.
However, while developer land banking has come under scrutiny and they do seem to be releasing more stock as a result, the practice seems to remain prevalent and continues to put a squeeze on much needed housing supply.
Since 2010, an average of just 35% of planning applications a year were actually built and while this has increased to 42% so far in 2018, that’s still 58% of planning approvals being land banked by developers.
The report suggest that had they delivered on every planning application granted since 2010, developers could have delivered an additional 236,170 new homes on average every year.
‘An increase in the number of planning applications granted and the number of homes built is, of course, a positive thing, but when you consider the housing deficit that still remains between the number of homes being approved for construction and the amount actually being delivered, it shows how much further we still have to go,’ said Colby Short, the firm’s chief executive officer.
‘We know it can be done as despite a recent increase in the number of approvals, completion levels have kept pace and have increased in tandem. Of course, it wouldn’t make sense financially for a developer to reduce profits by flooding the market with housing stock, particularly in these current tougher market conditions. But for those unable to make that step onto the ladder due to the issue of housing affordability, the annual profits of these companies are probably far from their first thought,’ Short pointed out.
