Housing pipeline report - Q4 2020 report - Published July 2021
IMPORTANT NOTE:
As a result of changes made by Glenigan to how they collect data on the number of permissions granted, there are some significant changes to the number of permissions reported in the Housing Pipeline reports from Q4 2020 onwards for quarters prior to that date, and to information in previous Housing Pipeline reports.
The procedural changes mean that the data collection is now more extensive and accurate than it was previously and so the numbers reported in the reports from Q4 2020, are a better reflection of the actual number of permissions being granted. The revised methodology has been agreed with the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government, who Glenigan also provide planning permission data for and so this data set will match the official Government numbers. In its Taking stock: The geography of housing need, permissions and completions report published in May 2021, Lichfields considered in detail why planning permission data reported prior to Q4 2020 was not wholly accurate (and included, for example, re-submitted applications) and so not a fair reflection of the number of actual plots given permission.
The number of units approved stabilised during the fourth quarter, being 1% up on the previous three months but 21% down on pre-pandemic levels seen in the fourth quarter of 2019. The steading in approvals during the fourth quarter was underpinned by a stabilising in private sector approvals and an improvement in social sector approvals.
Glenigan recorded the approval of 83,641 residential units during the fourth quarter of 2020. At 72,933 units, housing schemes of ten or more units accounted for 87% of approved units; the remainder being on smaller new build projects including self-build schemes, homes included within non-residential projects, and the conversion of non-residential properties.
