Andy Burnham’s council housebuilding programme faces significant delivery challenges due to insufficient publicly owned land in areas with the greatest housing need, according to analysis by specialist lender Together.
Research using data from property platform Searchland found that publicly owned brownfield land in England has capacity for between 187,000 and 207,000 homes, falling short of Labour’s previously announced target to deliver 300,000 social and affordable homes.
Geographic concentration of available land
The analysis revealed that public land suitable for development is heavily concentrated in a small number of local authorities. Birmingham holds the largest supply with 185 sites capable of accommodating approximately 11,500 homes.
However, around two-thirds of the 20 local authority areas with the biggest housing shortfalls have little or no significant public land available for development. Only five authorities – Birmingham, Bristol, Bradford, Lewisham and Kirklees – combine a significant housing deficit with substantial public land holdings.
Ryan Etchells, chief commercial officer at Together, said: “Building on vacant public land is a sensible idea, but our analysis shows it can only ever be part of the answer. There isn’t enough public land to deliver a programme this size, and that’s before considering that the places with the greatest need tend to have the least land.”
Market acquisition and financing constraints
According to Together’s findings, a third or more of the proposed programme would need to be delivered on land acquired at market value, while many publicly owned sites would still face questions over their suitability for development.
The lender noted that small and medium-sized housebuilders would need to play a central role in delivering homes on smaller brownfield sites, though access to development finance remained a major constraint. This comes as recent data shows landlord yields rising above 7% in Q2 2026, indicating ongoing pressures in the housing market.
Etchells added: “Making more public land available is an important part of boosting housing supply, but land alone doesn’t build homes. In many high-demand areas, developers also need acquisition finance to bring sites together before a scheme can get off the ground.”
Implications for housing delivery
The research raises questions about the feasibility of delivering large-scale council housing programmes without significant land acquisition or alternative development strategies. The geographic mismatch between available public land and areas of greatest housing need suggests that additional policy mechanisms may be required to achieve delivery targets.
The findings highlight ongoing challenges in addressing housing shortfalls, particularly in regions where the majority of homes have failed to see annual price growth, indicating affordability pressures persist across different market segments.
