Q1 Planning Application Index 2026
Q1 2026 Application Index: Developer intent remains resilient despite delivery pressures
The number of new homes applied for in England remained strong at the start of 2026 despite continued pressure from high borrowing costs, construction inflation and wider viability challenges facing developers, according to the latest data from Planning Portal operator TerraQuest.
Figures analysed in the latest edition of the Planning Application Index show Q1 2026 recorded 71,028 housing unit submissions across England excluding London, making it the strongest opening quarter for new housing applications since Q1 2022 and outperforming the equivalent period in 2023, 2024 and 2025. This follows a record-breaking end to 2025, which saw the highest annual total of new homes applied for this decade.
A strong quarter for affordable housing
Affordable housing applications also continued to perform - at 4,225 units, Q1 2026 recorded the highest number of affordable homes applied for at the start of any year since the beginning of the decade, while applications for market homes reached their strongest opening quarter since 2022.
TerraQuest’s data suggests developer intent remains resilient, despite wider economic pressures facing the sector, particularly around project viability. Planning Portal is the UK’s national planning application service through which roughly 95% of planning applications in England are submitted. As such, the index data provides one of the clearest early indicators of developer intent across the country.
The London picture
However, the national picture does not tell the whole story. TerraQuest’s new home application figures also point to growing regional variation. While housing submissions remain resilient across much of England, London experienced a more difficult start to the year. At 9,346, housing unit submissions in the capital fell to their lowest level since Q2 2023 and were significantly down on the same quarter last year.
Beyond regional variation, the more persistent challenge lies in what happens after applications are approved. Indeed, in TerraQuest’s inaugural Planning Application Index in 2024, we underlined that over a million homes with planning permission since 2015 had yet to be built. These delivery challenges have persisted and compounded in recent years, with housing starts remaining broadly flat year on year, while completion figures are at their lowest level since 2014.
The steady levels of new homes being applied for suggests the disconnect between applications and delivery can be increasingly linked to post-application planning delays as well as site viability pressures. Rising construction costs, inflationary pressures, infrastructure constraints and wider economic uncertainty continue to impact the ability of developments to progress beyond approval.
Geoff Keal, CEO of TerraQuest and Planning Portal
Geoff Keal suggests the latest figures demonstrate that developer appetite remains strong, but warned that the sector must now focus on ensuring viable schemes can move through to delivery.
“Against a challenging economic backdrop, it’s encouraging to see developer intent holding up and application volumes remaining resilient, particularly within affordable housing.
“Yet, the gap between applications and delivery is still a hurdle for the sector. Though the appetite to build is clearly there, too many schemes are still struggling to progress due to viability pressures and wider economic constraints.
“The planning system is often positioned as the primary barrier to delivery, but the reality is more complex Questions around land viability, infrastructure, construction costs and funding are increasingly shaping whether approved schemes can realistically move forward.
“If we want to convert strong application activity into homes being built at scale, the focus now has to be on creating the conditions that allow viable development to happen.”
Rhys-Evans Edet, Director & Co Founder at The Modern Builder
“It’s positive to see lots of new homes being applied for, but delivery remains considerably constrained.
“The biggest challenge holding back housing delivery in the UK is that many of the longstanding barriers remain unresolved and, in some cases, recent policy and regulatory changes have added t o those barriers.
“The current government inherited a difficult housing market, but recent policy decisions - alongside the lack of intervention in key areas - have continued to harm confidence across the sector.
“Changes to stamp duty have slowed movement across the housing market, while SME builders remain overlooked when it comes to development finance and support, despite being critical to regional housing delivery.
“At the same time, increasingly heavy regulations are adding major cost, delays, consultancy fees, and uncertainty to already fragile projects.
“The result is fewer viable sites, slower delivery, and smaller builders being pushed out of the market altogether. Britain does not have a housing demand problem, it has a housing delivery obstruction problem.”
The report also notes that smaller developers continue to face challenges around land acquisition and viability, particularly as inflationary pressures and borrowing costs continue to impact the economics of development.
You can read the full report below:
