The housing minister’s promise to "build, baby, build" looks in jeopardy after construction analysts reported a sharp fall in the pipeline of new residential work, raising doubts about Labour’s pledge to deliver 1.5 million new homes during this Parliament.
Barbour ABI said residential contract awards — the sums that enable projects to move from planning into execution — totalled just ����������1.1 billion in August. That figure was down 35% from ����������1.7 billion in July and well below the ����������2.5 billion recorded in October last year, before the tax-raising Budget introduced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves.
The report also said planning approvals fell 29% in August to an 18-month low and that new planning applications dropped 34% in the month. Ed Griffiths, head of business and client analytics at Barbour ABI, warned that "Steve Reed's call to 'build, baby, build' looks dead on arrival if these figures aren't turned around quickly."
Steve Reed was appointed housing secretary earlier this week, replacing Angela Rayner, and pledged to "unleash one of the biggest eras of building in our country's history". Labour has set a target of 1.5 million new homes to be built over the course of the Parliament, an average of 300,000 homes a year.
Barbour ABI framed the August numbers as evidence that the pipeline of work had stalled at a time when ministers are seeking to accelerate construction. Contract awards are a key early indicator of future building activity because they mark the transition from planning and procurement into on-site construction.
The decline in awards and planning activity follows a period of stronger totals in 2024 and late 2024, when October's awards reached about ����������2.5 billion. The report did not assign a single cause but noted the sharpness of the month-on-month drops, which analysts said would make meeting the 300,000-a-year rate more difficult without a rapid reversal in approvals and award volumes.
Ministers have argued that policy interventions and targeted support for housebuilding can boost supply, but the Barbour ABI numbers underscore the scale of the task. A sustained increase in contract awards and planning approvals would be needed to create the construction pipeline that consistently delivers hundreds of thousands of homes each year.
Industry groups and construction firms frequently point to factors such as planning delays, rising construction costs and financing conditions as constraints on the delivery pipeline. Barbour ABI's data provide a snapshot of market activity, showing both the timing and magnitude of recent falls in projects moving toward construction.
The report’s warning comes as the housing secretary seeks to set out practical steps to accelerate delivery. Reed and other ministers have not yet released a detailed timetable tied to the 1.5 million-home pledge; any pathway to the target would depend on reversing the recent declines in awards and approvals.
Analysts said the coming months will be closely watched for signs that the market is responding to policy signals and that planning and procurement activity is picking up. Until contract awards and planning approvals show sustained improvement, hitting the government’s annualised build rate will remain a significant challenge, according to the report and industry sources.
Barbour ABI provided the data to illustrate the immediate scale of the gap between current market activity and the levels implied by Labour's targets. The figures, compiled from contract award notices and planning records, will be used by planners, developers and policymakers as they assess how to mobilise new housing supply in the months ahead.