Housebuilding to fall for three years as red tape scuppers Labour’s new homes push

The UK’s progress towards its ambitious housebuilding target has been dealt another blow after the fiscal watchdog said housing output is set to slow for another three years.  The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said housing delivery will fall to 229,000 this year, to 221,000 the following year and to 219,000 in the year 2027-28. The OBR had previously thought housing construction would pick up in this year, to 252,000, but the watchdog said it has downgraded this outlook owing to rising costs of building and the burden of red tape on builders. The OBR said it had previously tipped housebuilding progress to improve in 2027-28 because of the government’s planning reforms, but it said on Wednesday that the headwinds posed by the Iran war have since scuppered these benefits. Its analysis of the Budget said: “We have not revised our judgement that the 2024 planning reforms will have a positive impact on housebuilding. “Instead, this change is driven by wider pressure