Berkeley calls for tax cuts and regulation overhaul as profit dips

Berkeley Group has warned the housebuilding market in London has no prospect of improvement without “decisive intervention” from ministers including tax cuts and regulatory changes.

The housebuilder, which earlier this year halted land acquisitions citing rises in regulation and costs, in its annual results today reported turnover of £2.38bn for the year to 30 April 2026, down 4.2% on the £2.49bn reported for the previous year. Its pre-tax profit fell 14.7% over the same period from £529m to £451m.

Although Berkeley still met its guidance for the year, its executive chair Rob Perrins warned structural supply and demand challenges have left London delivering less than 10% of its annual homes target with “no prospect of material improvement without more decisive intervention as it is clear that policy changes to date are not feeding through to delivery”.

Perrins said it now takes at least eight years to complete an apartment building in London “from the point of acquisition, through planning, agreement of section 106 requirements, consultation with statutory consultees, clearance of pre-commencement conditions, detailed design, Building Safety Regulator (BSR) approval and construction”. He said 10 years ago it took five years. Perrins added that a further 18 months is then required for an appeal or call-in

Perrins said demand for and supply of new homes has been hit by continual stamp duty increases and surcharges. He said stamp duty should be reduced on all new homes to a maximum of 3% and surcharges scrapped. He said these changes would be “fiscally neutral” because of tax revenues generated from the resulting increased transactions and housebuilding.

Perrins also called for the emergency “Homes for London” package, which saw affordable housing requirements lowered and requirements reduced, to remain in place “until housing numbers are restored.” He said the time taken to deliver apartment buildings should be lowered through review mechanisms of required returns to “incentivise development”. He said section 106 mechanisms “should be objectively assessed in a timely fashion with competing policy requirements and layering removed.”

He also called for a reduction in the “excessive tax burden” facing housebuilders and for regulators, including the Building Safety Regulator, to be adequately resourced.

Berkeley said its halt on acquiring new land, except through joint ventures, will remain in place while current “conditions prevail”.

It said: “Berkeley does not currently believe it can make its required rate of return on investment in new land acquisitions due to the continuous increase in the tax and regulatory burden on residential development.” It added that the introduction of the Building Safety Levy is “counter-productive.”

Berkeley completed 4,076 new homes in the year, a similar figure to the 4,047 recorded for the previous year. It’s average selling price dropped from £593,000 to £546,000, which it said was due to the mix of properties changing.

Berkeley placed sixth in Housing Today’s Top 50 Housebuilders list last year, which ranks firms by housing turnover.