Britain’s housing market slowdown is being driven by a breakdown in the flow of homes through the system, not just affordability pressures, according to new analysis from Dane Westwood, construction performance bond specialist at CG Bonds, a leading UK provider of construction bonds.
Recent data suggests the market is “broken”, with 74% of homeowners saying it is too expensive to move. However, the latest data indicates that even where demand exists, supply is not moving efficiently from planning to purchase.
Separate analysis reveals that while around 200,000 new homes were built across England between 2024 and 2025, just 21,261 were made available for sale on the open market, meaning close to nine in ten properties were delivered through other routes, including affordable housing and build-to-rent schemes.
At the earliest stage, planning constraints limit how many developments can progress. In some areas, refusal rates are particularly high, with Havering rejecting around 61% of dwelling planning applications, significantly restricting the pipeline of new homes.
At the same time, housebuilding levels vary sharply across the country. In 2024/25, Tewkesbury delivered 31.23 new homes per 1,000 existing dwellings, the highest rate in England, while some local authorities, like Richmond upon Thames, delivered 1 per 1,000, highlighting a significant imbalance in supply.
Even where building levels are strong, not all homes reach the open market. In some of England’s strongest housebuilding areas, a substantial share of new homes were delivered as affordable housing, including 33.8% in South Cambridgeshire and 30.5% in Mid Suffolk.
These factors are limiting the overall flow of housing, with fewer developments progressing, uneven delivery across regions and a smaller share of homes becoming available to buyers.
Dane Westwood comments: “We need to stop looking at the housing market as a simple supply-and-demand equation and instead as a fragile pipeline. If you block the planning phase in one council and divert 30% of output to non-market tenures in another, the ‘open market’ for buyers shrinks massively. Our data proves that the market isn’t just expensive, it’s physically obstructed.”
The analysis highlights the increasing complexity of housing delivery in England, where multiple factors influence both the volume of new homes and how they are accessed. While some areas maintain strong delivery pipelines, others face higher planning constraints or lower build rates, limiting supply. At the same time, the tenure mix, including affordable housing provision, continues to shape how homes are distributed across different parts of the market.
This comes as 27% of older homeowners say a lack of suitable housing is preventing them from moving, pointing to a mismatch between the types of homes being delivered and those needed at different life stages.
The findings suggest that the current housing slowdown is not driven by a single issue, but by a series of constraints affecting how homes move through the system.
From planning decisions and regional delivery patterns, to how homes are allocated once built, each stage plays a role in shaping overall availability, reinforcing the need to improve how housing supply flows from development through to buyers.
