Council performance report - The best and worst of social housing delivery up across London

Benham and Reeves, London lettings and estate agent, has revealed its latest research which discloses which London councils have put in the best house building performance when it comes to the delivery of local authority funded and housing association homes as a proportion of all homes built.

They analysed dwellings data for both private enterprise and social housing completions, providing insight into which councils delivered the highest level of new homes as a percentage of total new homes completed across each borough.

Across London as a whole, the study shows that local authorities delivered 3,440 homes and the housing association is the last year (2021/22) – a 3% improvement on the previous year (2020/21). In the same year, there were 14,720 new homes delivered via the private sector, a 13% drop from the previous year.

Of the total 18,160 new homes delivered across London last year, social housing accounted for 19% - again resulting in a 3% increase on the previous year.

Top performing boroughs

Of those boroughs that top the table for delivering the highest level of social housing, Harrow has performed the best. Last year, 67% of all new dwellings completed in the borough came via local authorities and the housing association.

Hackney also saw more than half of all new homes delivered (57%) come via the social housing sector, with Barking and Dagenham (49%), Ealing (46%) Westminster (45%), Brent (45%), Hillingdon (42%), Havering (40%), Redbridge (25%), and Hounslow (22%) also ranking within the top 10.

In the last year, Brent has also seen the most significant increase in the level of social housing delivered. In 2020/21, the borough saw no homes completed via the local authority or housing associations versus 230 new homes distributed via the private sector.

The housing association and local authority built 140 new homes in 2021/22, with a further 170 delivered by private enterprise. As a result, social housing accounted for 45% of all homes built in 2021/22 and also marked a 45% increase in the previous year.

Hackney has also seen a sharp uplift, with the proportion of new homes attributed to social housing increasing by 44% in the last year to 57% in total, with Harrow also witnessing one of the largest increases (+43%).

Worst performing boroughs

No less than eight areas of London saw no social housing built last year, namely Camden, Lambeth, Islington, Merton, Richmond, Kingston, Kensington, and Chelsea, as well as the City of London itself.

Disappointingly, the City of London, Richmond, Kingston, Kensington, and Chelsea also saw no social housing delivered the previous year either.

A further 10 boroughs have also seen an annual decline in the level of social housing delivered, with a total of 16 boroughs also experiencing a reduction in social housing as a proportion of all homes built.

Director of Benham and Reeves, Marc von Grundherr, commented: “The delivery of social housing is a hot topic, and it plays a vital role in ensuring we have enough homes to support an ever-increasing population, particularly for those who would otherwise struggle to tackle the high cost of renting or owning their own home.”

“So, it’s positive to see that both the level of social housing being built and this total as a proportion of all homes delivered across London has increased over the last year.”

“However, this has largely been driven by a handful of boroughs, with the rest seeing a decline in social housing delivery, or in the worst cases, none built whatsoever ” von Grundherr added.