London is facing a shortage of small and medium sized housing developments, an agent has claimed.

Research by Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward found that despite the recent Housing White Paper giving government backing for small and medium sized developments (SMDs), they only provide one in five properties in the pipeline of projects in London

The research shows there are currently 1,031 private new-build developments, those with more than 20 properties per development, either awaiting planning permission, with planning consent awaiting construction, or under construction. These schemes will provide a total of 214,875 properties – the equivalent of 17 years of housing delivery in London based on the average number of private homes completed per year in London over the last five years, the agent says.

However, the analysis shows that just five London boroughs have SMDs providing the majority of units in the local pipeline.

Bromley has the largest proportion of units being delivered by SMDs with 70.5%, while Camden, Westminster, Richmond upon Thames and Kensington & Chelsea all have a majority of units within SMDs at 66%, 63.4%, 63.1% and 53.8% respectively.

Newham, Barking & Dagenham and Hammersmith & Fulham have the lowest proportion of units being delivered by SMDs at just 4.3%, 5.7% and 7.9% respectively.

John East, director of land and new homes at KFH, said: “The Government’s Housing White Paper makes clear that small and medium sized developments are vital for London to meet its housing need.

“Our analysis proves that more has to be done to support developers at the smaller end of the scale.

“Making more land available for these developments and accelerating the construction of sites that already have planning permission is a start, but securing consent will remain a challenge where there are local sensitivities.”

“It is clear many boroughs need to do more to include SMDs in their local plans and get behind the developers hoping to build them.

“Of course, only a unified approach will work; local authorities, central government and developers must work together if London is to get anywhere close to fulfilling its housing requirement.”