Borough has lowest level of new build homes in London

Two South London boroughs are among the worst performing areas for new home building, according to a new report, writes James Davies.

Buyers are “crying out” for new build homes in areas across the capital that are in “desperate need” of more housing, research shows.

Bexley has the lowest level of new build homes in the capital at just 2.5 per cent of home sales, compared to a city-wide average of 9.8 per cent.

This comes despite the borough having the second-highest buyer demand for new build homes at over one third.

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Neighbouring Bromley tops the demand chart at nearly three times the 15.6 per cent London average.

But the borough’s four-in-10 new build demand dwarfs supply, as just 5.3 per cent of the homes sold were new builds.

The research shows Lambeth has the highest percentage of new build homes sold south of the Thames. The figure of 14.7 per cent exceeds the borough’s new build demand of 12.7 per cent.

This comes despite recent criticism over a lack of council house building in the borough and a sizable sell-off of its properties.

The boroughs of Southwark (13.6 per cent), Wandsworth (13.2 per cent) and Croydon (11.8 per cent) are high up on the new homes table.

But Kingston (5.8 per cent), Lewisham (6.3 per cent) and Merton (7.8 per cent) follow Bromley and Bexley as having the lowest level of new build homes in South London.

The findings published by estate agent Stone Real Estate show some boroughs with the lowest number of new build homes have the highest demand.

The report’s authors used data from property portals such as Prime Location, Rightmove and Zoopla to find the number of new build homes listed and demand based on the number of homes already sold.

Stone Real Estate founder and chief executive Michael Stone said: “There’s no denying that we are in desperate need of more housing across the capital and a large proportion of that needs to be affordable.

“The data does suggest that perhaps some of our new build efforts across the capital have been poorly targeted and, in fact, some of the areas with the lowest level of new homes are the areas where buyers are crying out for them.”

Bexley council was criticised in February for not building any affordable homes last year.

This is despite their London Plan target of 2,230 conventional homes from 2019 to 2024.

A Bexley town hall spokeswoman said: “We do everything we can to maintain a good supply of housing, but we are only one player in a very large and complex housing market.

“Since 2012 – the period covered by our Local Plan – we have met our housing targets. We have given planning permission for 2,880 housing units against a target of 2,230 over the next five years. 924 of these are for affordable housing.

“We have issues with some of the measures the research highlights and we do not feel it takes sufficient account of the difference between inner London and an outer London borough like Bexley.”

Bromley town hall did not respond to requests to comment on the findings.