New research has revealed which regions of the UK are on target to see a surge in property development in 2023.
On average, around 24,500 planning applications are made in the UK every month, with 84 per cent of them, c.20,500, being approved.
The new research analysed the average monthly submissions of planning applications in each region of the UK, the average approval rate and the total number of applications approved to find the UK regions on track to have a building boom this year.
The research found that Northern Ireland is home to the highest average monthly success rate for planning applications, with 95 per cent of all applications given the green light each month. This was followed by the North East with 92 per cent of applications being approved while Wales came third with 87 per cent of planning applications being approved.
However, these regions were also found to have the lowest average monthly planning application submissions (Northern Ireland 118, North East 569 & Wales 569) so were not the regions identified as being set to have a building boom in 2023.
It is, in fact, the South East that takes the crown as the top UK region for new builds and property development in 2023, with 4,491 planning applications made per month, with an 85 per cent (3,772) success rate. This accounts for 18.4 per cent of the UK total.
The research found that London will be the second busiest region for building in 2023, with 3,444 successful planning applications per month accounting for 16.8 per cent of the national total, this is despite having the lowest approval rate of 75 per cent.
The East of England with 2,612 planning approvals, the South West with 2,126 approvals and the North West with 1,714 approvals also have some of the highest levels of successful planning applications each month in the UK.
Nicholas Christofi, Managing Director of debt advisory firm Sirius Property Finance, which conducted the research, commented on the data. “Despite the economic uncertainty that came during the closing stages of 2022, we’ve continued to see a high level of market activity when it comes to the financing of both commercial and residential developments across the UK.
What’s perhaps more telling is the higher propensity of these developments in higher value regions such as the South East and London, which suggests that a robust level of confidence remains in the market and that any fears of a property price downturn are largely behind us.
More encouraging still, is the fact that the majority of applications made are getting approval and this bodes very well for the health of the market moving forward, both in terms of ability to actually build, as well as the delivery of this stock to avoid any future periods of market stagnation.”
Data on planning application approvals sourced from Property Data (Jan 2023)
