The government has come close to conceding defeat on one of its flagship housing pledges. Housing secretary Angela Rayner has admitted there is now only a “slim chance” of delivering 1.5 million homes in England by the next election.
Rayner said the 1.5 million homes target remained in place. But she acknowledged that rising construction costs and wider economic pressures, including the Iran war, had made it increasingly difficult to achieve.
“It’s a slim chance, but I’m definitely not giving it up,” Rayner told the BBC.
She described the 1.5 million figure as a “stretch target”. She also said the government needed to be honest about the challenge it faces.
The admission marks a significant shift in tone over a manifesto commitment that has remained central to Labour’s housing policy.
To deliver 1.5 million homes over the parliament, England would need to average around 300,000 additional homes a year. The government has previously framed its ambition around supporting delivery in excess of 300,000 annually.
Delivery remains well below target
The latest official data underlines the scale of the challenge.
Developers lodged 203,000 EPCs for new dwellings in England in the 12 months to June 2026. That represented a 3% increase on the previous year. However, the figure remains well short of the annual rate required to reach 1.5 million.
Separate government estimates put net additional homes at around 199,500 in 2025/26, compared with 208,600 in 2024/25.
England added an estimated 392,400 net additional homes between the start of the current parliament in July 2024 and 14 June 2026.
Housebuilders have repeatedly questioned whether the government can achieve the target. This is despite reforms designed to unlock more development.
Those measures include changes to planning rules and the approach to development on parts of the green belt. However, developers continue to face viability pressures, higher construction and borrowing costs and affordability constraints among buyers.
Rayner insisted the government would continue pursuing the target. She also pointed to its investment in social and affordable housing.
“The prime minister wants us to make sure we’re building council houses. He’s made that absolutely, fundamentally clear,” she said.
“We’re seeing home starts up by 15% last year, so we are making a difference.”
Prime minister Andy Burnham has also pledged what he describes as the biggest council housebuilding programme since the post-war period. However, the government has yet to set out detailed delivery plans.
The latest Homes England figures provide some evidence of increased activity within government-backed programmes.
Homes England recorded 42,433 housing starts in 2025/26, up 11% year-on-year. Completions increased 9% to 40,332. However, these figures cover Homes England programmes rather than overall housing delivery.
Fewer than three years remain before the end of the parliament. Rayner’s intervention provides the clearest acknowledgement yet that the government is unlikely to meet its headline 1.5 million homes target.
Comments (2)
This was yet another of Labour’s false promises. It was never going to happen, a laughable prediction. Yet another nail in their political coffin- hopefully
Do you think she truly believes what she says?!!
It is astounding that she is either gaslighting or bloody stupid; anyone with an iota of brain cells can see that the target was just political postering or naivety.