Starts by G15 landlords ‘drop 66% in two years’

The G15 group of London’s largest housing associations has said its members’ development project starts have fallen 66% in the space of two years.

The group today issued a statement saying its members started 4,708 homes in 2024/25, down from 13,744 two years earlier. No figure was provided for last year.

Completions are also down 11% year-on-year, totalling 9,200 homes, compared to 10,356 the previous year.

The selected figures have been released ahead of the expected publication of the group’s first Development Report.

Fiona Fletcher-Smith, chair of the G15 and chief executive of L&Q, said the drop in starts was down to “years of short-term policy, funding uncertainty and complex regulation”.

The G15 repeated its calls for ministers to provide a 10-year rent settlement, re-instate rent convergence and provide full access to the Building Safety Fund.

Fletcher-Smith said: “We are encouraged by the early signs from the new government – they’re listening and engaging with the scale of the challenge. But real progress demands long-term reform and the tools to plan and build at scale.

“Nowhere is the need more urgent than London, where the housing crisis is particularly acute. Every affordable home built here generates over £27,000 in social and economic value each year and helps keep the essential workers our capital relies on living in the city.

“The G15 stands ready to help deliver the 1.5 million homes this country needs. We urge ministers to work with us to make that ambition a reality.”

The figures follow Housing Today and G15’s exclusive State of the Capital report in March, which outlined several recommendations to boost affordable housing delivery in London.

The report proposes a new ‘amortising’ grant funding model to help housing associations with balance sheet constraints to develop and government to invest.

Under the model housing associations would receive a higher amount of development grant per unit upfront. This would mean the housing association initially needs to borrow much less money privately to make up the development costs, meaning net rent could more easily cover costs without worsening interest cover metrics.

Over time, the association would pay back some or all of the grant interest-free to government. The advantage of this for the Treasury is that the grant paid back can be classified as an investment instead of as straightforward debt or expense to the taxpayer.

The government has expressed an interest and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Treasury has been in dialogue with G15 leaders about the model.