Spring Statement Comment - Darlington BS

26 March 2025

"We welcome the Chancellor’s update yesterday on affordable housing and the £2bn affordable housing package delivering over 18,000 new homes, which includes many in Sunderland. This provides a much-needed significant boost to supply.

"In addition, the government plans to train 60,000 workers in the construction sector to support this housing expansion and promote employment among young people, all of which can only make such targets potentially more achievable.

"The OBR has assessed that Labour's planning reforms "will lead to housebuilding reaching a forty-year high" with changes to the national planning policy alone, helping build over 1.3 million homes in the UK within the next five years. The Chancellor stated that this will take Labour within "touching distance" of its promise to build 1.5 million homes in England this parliament.

"Such bullish statements should be welcomed, as recent research by planning consultants Marrons indicates that if the current trends continue, despite being England’s slowest-growing population (5%), more than 164,600 new homes will still need to be built across the North East to meet the needs of its population in 2040, which is expected to be 2.3 million aged 16 and over.

"These homes will need to come from a variety of sources, including self-build, which although a small sector, remains an incredibly important contributor to additional housing stock. Self-build properties account for around 12% of total housing output in the UK, according to AMA Research, but they only account for approximately 7% to 8% of all mortgage completions. So, more can be done to support those industrious homeowners who choose to build their own property.

"At Darlington Building Society, we take a proactive approach to supporting this part of the market and helping customers to build their own homes – ultimately benefitting the provision of housing stock."

Chris Blewitt, Head of Mortgage Distribution, Darlington Building Society