Council Housing: The Challenge Isn't Ambition, It's Delivery

By Mike Ormesher, Ottersbrook Consulting

The Government's ambition to increase council housebuilding is welcome. Few would argue against the need for more affordable homes, stronger local authority delivery and greater housing supply. But recent housing data highlights an important reality.

The challenge facing the UK housing sector is not ambition. It's delivery. Latest ONS figures show that 40,770 homes were started across the UK in Q1 2026, up 14% on the previous year and the highest quarterly total since 2023. At first glance, that looks encouraging.

Yet the wider picture tells a different story.

Housing starts remain 16.2% below pre-pandemic levels, while completions continue to lag behind. Approximately 39,890 homes were completed during the quarter, but completion rates remain significantly below historic levels and almost one-fifth lower than the previous quarter. Perhaps most telling is who is actually delivering homes.

In England, 27,640 of the 34,470 housing starts were delivered by private developers. Housing associations accounted for 6,590 starts, while local authorities delivered just 240.

The data reinforces something the sector already understands: housing delivery depends on an ecosystem, not a single delivery route.

Private developers, housing associations, local authorities, investors, manufacturers, contractors and supply chains all play critical roles. Increasing housing output requires every part of that system to function effectively.

The barriers are also well known:

• Development viability pressures

• Housing Revenue Account constraints

• Skills shortages

• Regulatory complexity

• Funding uncertainty

• Delivery capacity

These are not new challenges, but they are the factors determining whether housing targets become housing completions. The latest figures show a sector that remains resilient despite significant pressures. Starts are moving in the right direction, but delivery remains below the level required to meet demand. If government seriously wants to accelerate housebuilding, rather than quoting spurious numbers that we haven't seen since the 1970's with a lot less pressure on us than we have today, then the priority should not simply be setting higher targets. It should be creating the conditions that enable councils, housing associations and private developers to deliver at scale.

Ottersbrook believe very passionately, that housing targets do not build homes. Delivery systems do.