Housing was meant to be the policy that defined this government. Labour promised 1.5 million new homes over the Parliament, a number repeated at every opportunity as proof that it was serious about the dream of home ownership. The reality is now catching up with the rhetoric, and it is not pretty.
The Numbers Don't Add Up
To hit 1.5 million homes you need to build roughly 300,000 a year, every year, without fail. Between April 2024 and September 2025, around 231,300 net additional homes were delivered in England across an eighteen-month period. Do the arithmetic and you find a government running well below the pace it set itself, with the gap widening rather than closing.
Ministers will point to a recent uptick in housing starts, and yes, starts rose in the final quarter of last year. But a start is not a home. It is a promise of a home, and we have heard quite enough promises. Completions, the homes families can actually move into, crept up by just one per cent year on year. That is not a building boom. That is a government missing its own target and hoping nobody is counting.
Mortgages Are Getting More Expensive Again
For the family trying to buy, the picture is getting worse, not better. The average two-year fixed mortgage has climbed to around 5.68 per cent, up sharply from 4.83 per cent at the start of March. The optimism of the new year, when rates were softening and buyers were tempted back, has evaporated. Global instability has pushed up borrowing costs and stopped the Bank of England cutting rates.
So the aspiring homeowner faces the worst of both worlds. Not enough homes are being built to bring prices within reach, and the cost of borrowing to buy one is rising. House prices barely moved over the year, which sounds like relief until you remember that wages are being eaten by tax and bills at the same time. Ownership is drifting further out of reach for the very people Labour claimed it would help.
A Fragile Market And A Distracted Government
The warning signs are flashing in the industry itself. Major housebuilders are under real pressure, with rising borrowing costs and slowing demand reshaping the market. When the firms that actually build the homes are struggling, the idea of a government-led building surge looks more fanciful by the month.
And where is the focus? A government consumed by a leadership crisis and infighting is in no state to drive the single biggest construction effort in a generation. You cannot build 1.5 million homes while you are busy trying to save your own job.
What Reform UK Would Do
Reform UK would tackle the root causes instead of chasing headline numbers. We would reform the planning system so it works for local communities rather than against them, prioritise building on brownfield sites, and put British families and first-time buyers first. We would also be honest that you cannot fix the housing crisis while running mass uncontrolled immigration that adds enormous demand every single year. Supply and demand are two sides of the same problem, and Labour refuses to face either.
The dream of owning your own home should not be a fantasy reserved for the wealthy. Labour promised to make it real and is already failing. Reform UK would deliver the homes, control the demand, and give a locked-out generation a genuine chance.