‘Build, baby, build’: Housing secretary commits to 1.5m-home target
Will Steve Reed provide the jumpstart to housing development that Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government has promised? A recent meeting with housebuilders has at least one developer optimistic.
Shortly after being appointed housing secretary, Steve Reed told civil servants that his mantra would be “build, baby, build”. So far, it is on track to become his catch phrase as he has been quoted repeating it on separate occasions to the Telegraph, BBC, and now to the general public.
“I want us to build, baby, build, so we can put the key to a decent home into the hands of every single family that needs it,” Reed said in a Friday press release as he issued a ‘call to arms’ to developers to encourage them to build faster.
The statement followed a roundtable discussion with representatives from Landsec, British Land, Vistry Group, Taylor Wimpey, Barratt Redrow, and more.
Muse’s Phil Mayall, second from left and pictured next to Landsec’s Mark Allan, was one of the developers who met with secretary Steve Reed. Credit: MHCLG via Open Government Licence, bit.ly/3F2n4lo
Phil Mayall, managing director of Muse, was among those who attended.
“It was an honour to represent Muse at a roundtable with the new secretary of state, Steve Reed, and housing minister, Matthew Pennycook,” Mayall said. “It was great to understand more about his key priorities and see a genuine willingness from him to engage with and listen to industry leaders.”
Mayall continued: “In the discussion I raised the importance of addressing viability challenges in order to prevent housing delivery being held back as well as sharing my views on how the Planning and Infrastructure Bill could break down barriers to development.
“The secretary of state’s eagerness to listen and commit to respond directly with his thoughts on the ideas that we’re shared was an extremely positive sign.”
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Reed has since announced that the government is committed to building 1.5m homes before the end of this Parliament. He promised a series of new measures to be announced to encourage this, including the aforementioned Planning and Infrastructure Bill and the unveiling of the government’s new towns.
“We are doubling down on our plans to unleash one of the biggest eras of building in our country’s history and we are backing the builders all the way,” Reed said.
“Through major planning reform and investment, we will break down the barriers to development and build the 1.5m homes this country needs as part of our Plan for Change.”
The latest Office of National Statistics figures for housebuilding starts and completions show that Reed has a lot of work to do. There were only 184,590 homes completed in 2024 – just a bit more than half of the 300,000 required to hit the 1.5m target.
This year seems to be set for similar figures – if not smaller ones, with 38,780 completions between January and March. That’s down 6% from the same period in 2024 and the lowest number of homes delivered in a quarter since the first quarter of 2016.
Savills echoed the statistical pessimism of the ONS, predicting in June that the government will only see the building of 840,000 homes prior to its 2029 deadline.
