This week鈥檚 poll: Can mayor Sadiq Khan hit his housebuilding targets for London?

Also read: Housebuilding by numbers - how many homes shoudld London be building?

London鈥檚 Labour mayor, Sadiq Khan, was elected promising to make building more homes his 鈥渟ingle biggest priority鈥� in office. His manifesto derided his predecessor鈥檚 failure to build 50,000 houses a year, and promised to 鈥渂reak the home-building logjam鈥� and to make 50% of new homes affordable. Since being elected, he has presided over the creation of a hugely ambitious draft London Plan, targeting construction of even more homes - 65,000 a year.

But cold, hard reality is hitting home. The latest government housebuilding figures show Khan鈥檚 London is heading backwards 鈥� fast. Net additions to the housing stock 鈥� which include conversions and changes of use 鈥� were down by 20% in London in the year to April, dropping to 31,723. That鈥檚 under half the building rate promised in his draft plan. It鈥檚 also virtually the same number built in predecessor Boris Johnson鈥檚 final year in office. 

LR-K5HBRR-Alamy

Source: Marcin Rogozinski / Alamy Stock Photo

 

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