Ahead of the Greater Manchester mayoral by-election, the Home Builders Federation is calling on the next mayor to accelerate housing delivery and improve affordability across the region.
The HBF has published a new manifesto setting out the actions the incoming mayor should take to accelerate housing delivery, improve affordability and support economic growth across the city region.
With the new prime minister making clear his ambition to position Manchester at the heart of national politics through the creation of a “Number 10 North”, the HBF says that the region has a unique opportunity to lead the way on housing delivery and demonstrate how devolved powers can tackle the housing crisis.
As one of England’s most established Combined Authorities, the organisation believes that Greater Manchester is well placed to become the national model for how strategic planning and devolved decision-making can unlock new homes, investment and jobs.
Housing delivery in Manchester outpaces all Greater London boroughs combined
The HBF finds that, if Greater Manchester was to achieve its new annual housing target of 14,400 homes each year, it would:
- Support 50,000 jobs
- Generate £3.2billion in economic activity
- Deliver £650million of investment in affordable housing
- Generate £90million of investment in new infrastructure, including £40million for new and improved schools
- Support more than £400million of spending in local shops and businesses
The HBF says that housing affordability has worsened across every Greater Manchester borough over the past two decades, with house prices rising faster than earnings and homeownership becoming increasingly out of reach. Over the same period, the share of households owning a home with a mortgage has fallen from 39% to 28% across the North West, while the share of private renters has more than doubled.
Nevertheless, Greater Manchester has remained one of the UK’s stronger-performing city regions for housing delivery, completing an average of 10,650 homes a year over the past five years. Despite national housing delivery falling by 6% in 2024/25, Greater Manchester saw a 1.3% increase, demonstrating resilience against wider national trends.
Across England, the HBF says that housing delivery continues to be held back by national barriers, including the lack of support for first-time buyers, development viability pressures, constraints on affordable housing delivery and overstretched planning departments. It believes that addressing these challenges will be essential if Greater Manchester is to build on its strong recent performance and meet its target of delivering 14,400 homes a year.
The HBF is calling on the next mayor of Greater Manchester to use their devolved powers to increase housing delivery, unlock investment and improve access to homeownership. In particular, the timely preparation of a new Spatial Development Strategy to provide long-term certainty for housing delivery, alongside measures to allocate more small sites for SME builders and prioritise brownfield development in sustainable locations close to public transport.
The manifesto urges the incoming mayor to work with the government, Homes England and lenders to improve access to homeownership and champion greater support for first-time buyers. It also highlights the need to strengthen the local construction workforce to address skills shortages by strengthening links between industry and colleges.
Neil Jefferson, chief executive of the HBF, said: “There is a real opportunity for the next Mayor of Greater Manchester to accelerate housing delivery and show how strong devolved leadership can help tackle the housing crisis.”
“With greater powers over planning, transport and skills, the incoming Mayor can create the conditions that allow more homes to be built in the right places, support local jobs and investment, and make home ownership more achievable for thousands of people across the region.”
“Our manifesto sets out practical, deliverable interventions that would help Greater Manchester meet its housing ambitions and provide a blueprint for other Combined Authorities across the country.”
“Increased taxes and policy costs, alongside suppressed demand due to a lack of affordable mortgage lending and no government support for buyers, are preventing builders from increasing housing supply and putting the government’s housing ambitions increasingly out of reach.”
