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With new data now released, what does the standard method suggest for minimum housing need across England?
Following the release of new data last week on 22 May 2025, we have collaborated again with the Land, Planning and Development Federation (LPDF) to produce an up-to-date summary of the minimum housing need suggested for every local authority in England by the standard method.
Many will have become familiar with the ‘indicative’ figures released by the Government when it published its new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) in December, in doing so formally introducing a new stock-based method of assessing housing needs.
These figures are, however, designed to evolve over time. As previously, the new method contains an adjustment linked to affordability ratios that are released annually in March, albeit the shift towards using a five-year average does bring greater stability over time. This is though, offset by a new variable, with the use of housing stock as the baseline for the new method causing its outcomes to change once again when this dataset is updated once a year, normally in May.
The release of this dataset last Thursday (22 May) does, or at least should, now fix the figures generated by the standard method until affordability ratios are next updated in March 2026. This makes it an opportune moment to crunch the numbers.
The fact that most areas constantly grow their housing stock makes it unsurprising that the new data increases the outcome of the standard method in all but three of England’s 296 local authorities. The changes are though relatively modest, adding an average of 11 dwellings per annum, albeit most (61%) actually see a smaller increase.
Incorporating the new data slightly increases the headline national need to circa 370,979 dwellings per annum, some 49% more than have been delivered in any single year this century. While 134 authorities likewise need to improve upon their best year of delivery, it is notable that slightly more (162) have at least once delivered at the level now implied to be needed.
Read more in our new report, produced in collaboration with the Land, Planning and Development Federation (LPDF). Download below:
For further information or expert advice, please reach out to Andrew Lowe.
28 May 2025
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