Greater Manchester to miss housing target by more than 23,000 homes, report says

Greater Manchester is likely to miss its housebuilding target by more than 23,000 homes, according to a new report.

The report by Centre for Cities suggests proposed planning changes will not be enough to meet the Labour’s 1.5m target by 2029, with large urban areas seeing the biggest shortfalls. The think tank found that the government is likely to miss its national target by at least 388,000 homes with Greater Manchester alone expected to be 23,256 homes short - 39 per cent below the target for the city-region.

Deputy Prime Minister Angel set out changes to mandatory local housing targets in July. The new targets mean Greater Manchester will need to build 14,943 new homes every year which is 17,705 more new homes than what the city-region had planned for by 2029.

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But analysis of 80 years of data by Centre for Cities shows that even if private development were to rise to the same level as seen during the peak of housebuilding, the sector would only be able to deliver 1.1m new homes. The think tank says the shortfall is unlikely to be bridged in full by public housebuilding within the next five years and has warned that more green belt may need to be built on.

The under-delivery of new housing following the latest planning reforms is forecast to be largest in big metropolitan areas, particularly Greater London where it’s estimated that over four years, private development would fall nearly 196,000 new homes short in - 61 per cent below the area’s target. Outside of Greater London, Tyne and Wear is projected to see the greatest shortfall, of more than 10,000 homes, 49 per cent of the local target, followed by Merseyside with an estimated shortfall of