The message from the Saving Housebuilding conference was clear: England’s housebuilding model is under severe strain and, while the government’s ambition to increase housing delivery is right and industry wants to work in partnership to deliver it, delivery will not recover unless the economics of development, a more pragmatic operating environment for builders of all sizes, and ongoing calls for demand-side support are addressed.

Below are the four takeaways from the conference.

Viability constraints

It is widely felt that the economics of housebuilding no longer work across large parts of England due to a combination of higher build costs, infrastructure requirements, Affordable Housing obligations and regulatory burdens which, in many cases, now exceed the value available within schemes. Sites that look acceptable in planning terms are no longer deliverable in commercial terms. As one speaker remarked, “we are trying to capture more value than is actually there.”

The knock-on effect is a reduction in the flow of land through the system. While planning reform is welcomed, permissions alone do not contribute to the delivery of homes. It is felt that if schemes cannot absorb the full cost of infrastructure, regulation and policy requirements, they will stall – with Affordable Housing often the first thing to fall away when viability is squeezed. Ultimately, this undermines public support.

There were also calls for government to consider resetting viability and land value assumptions to reflect market reality: focusing on sites that can deliver quickly, especially medium-sized sites and places with existing infrastructure, while using Homes England and programmes such as the New Homes Accelerator to unlock more complex strategic sites.

While large sites remain essential for long-term supply, they require infrastructure funding, risk sharing and balance sheet capacity that the private sector cannot provide alone in current conditions.

The topic of viability remaining under pressure was covered in our Q1 2026 Development Land research report.

Unlocking homeownership

One key point of discussion during the conference was how weak affordability and reduced buyer confidence are slowing sales rates, which directly reduces build-out, cashflow and development confidence.

Sales rates have deteriorated substantially since the closure of Help to Buy. As Savills Research revealed in a report published for the Land, Planning and Development Federation (LPDF), a renewed equity loan scheme could support up to 85,000 additional homes by 2029, while also generating almost £24bn in additional GDP over three years.

Pre-pandemic sales rates of around 0.8 homes per outlet per week have, in some cases, fallen to around 0.4 – and even lower for SMEs. If sales rates halve, developers need twice as many outlets simply to maintain the same level of delivery, which is not seen as a realistic route to recovery.

The introduction of a targeted, demand-side support scheme to maintain capacity in the development sector and avoid the loss of skills, labour and supply chains would be welcomed. The consensus of opinion from the conference was that a focused equity loan scheme should be designed around one primary objective: increasing housing delivery by helping creditworthy first-time buyers access new homes.

SMEs disproportionately squeezed

SME builders face many of the same planning, infrastructure and regulatory requirements as large developers, but without the same financial resilience or ability to absorb delays and upfront costs. The number of SME housebuilders has fallen dramatically over recent decades, from around 15,000 in the 1980s to roughly 5,000 today, with this number continuing to decline.

Constraints to entry and slowing delivery include requirements relating to planning, Biodiversity Net Gain, infrastructure contributions and regulatory compliance, while cashflow presents the biggest barrier. Funders are also more risk averse where developers cannot provide certainty over timing and sales.

Medium-sized sites, often around 20–50 homes, are seen as one of the clearest opportunities to increase delivery quickly and bring forward supply in places where infrastructure already exists – and there were calls for greater proportionality into the planning and regulatory system to be introduced for SMEs, which would provide more flexibility. As a minimum, the measures in the draft National Planning Policy Framework which aim to simplify planning for sites of 50 homes or fewer is considered vital to support both SMEs and housing delivery.

Public support

Research conducted by Public First ahead of the conference found that affordability is the key factor shaping support for new homes. Discussions at the conference revealed that much of the debate around new homes is focused on abstract targets rather than tangible local outcomes, with people supporting new homes when they can see the benefits to the wider community.

Public First’s findings showed that people are significantly more supportive when they believe development will help local people, younger generations and families remain in their communities.

Patrick Eve, Head of UK Regional Development at Savills, said: “This was a really engaging conference and one which perfectly articulated the various issues affecting housing delivery and industry confidence right now. There were some great contributions across the panels which underlined the work that needs to be done in order to restore confidence and increase delivery.

“Whilst some of that is outside of our control, what we can do as an industry is work together to find the solutions that both ease some of the challenges we currently face and highlight the many community benefits that housing developments can bring which hopefully results in a more affordable housing market, a stronger construction sector, and a planning system that commands greater public confidence.”