Data from residential researcher Molior has revealed that construction starts for private housing across London fell 84% between 2015 and 2025.

Molior, which tracks home starts and sales for projects with at least 20 homes, found that construction started on just 5,547 private homes last year, down from 33,782 starts in 2015.

The firm said it predicted that just 14,053 homes would be completed in the capital in 2027 and 2028, despite government estimates that London needs 88,000 new homes a year to match demand.

However, while construction starts were down across the year, they increased from 986 in Q3 to 2,294 in Q4. The lowest construction starts figure was recorded in Q2, at 882, while 1,385 starts were reported in Q1.

Over the year, construction was halted for schemes with 5,009 homes across 51 development sites. Molior accredited the majority of these halts to contractors going bust or work being deliberately paused due to a weak sales market.

Recently published data from Centre for Policy Studies shows that housing starts in the capital totalled 4,170 in the 2024-25 financial year, down 72% from 15,070 in 2023-24.

Despite the drops in London, data published by the Ministry of Housing last week reveals residential construction starts in England rose 18% in the 12 months to the end of September.

The figures show construction started on an estimated 117,980 dwellings in the period, up from the 99,570 in the previous 12-month period.

However, while construction starts across England rose, new-build completions in England were estimated to have fallen 10% year on year to 141,290 in the same period, while new home planning permissions fell 15% year on year, from 245,000 to 208,000.