Councils in England have overestimated their housing delivery by an average of 21% over the past five years, according to new analysis from Pegasus Group.
The consultancy compared the homes councils listed as deliverable in their five-year housing land supply with those actually built between 2020 and 2025.
Castle Point Borough Council performed worst, forecasting 2,049 homes but delivering just 468, meaning its forecast was 438% of the real figure. Richmond upon Thames (294%) and Stevenage (249%) also ranked among the poorest performers.
Neil Tiley, Senior Director of Planning at Pegasus, said the definition of ‘deliverable’ is too ambiguous and applied inconsistently. He called for standardised annual reporting to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and suggested the Government could introduce consequences for councils that persistently over-estimate.
