Supported Housing · 25 June 2026

Homes England Reports 65% Rise in Social Rent Completions for 2025 to 2026

By the Silkwood Group team · 3 min read · Updated 28 June 2026

Fibre to Cabinet, Basingstoke. Photo by Mike Cattell, CC BY 2.0

Key takeaways

• Homes England delivered 42,433 housing starts and 40,332 completions in the year to 31 March 2026, up 11% and 9% respectively.
• Social rent completions rose 65%, the largest single category increase in the release.
• Affordable homes made up 32,243 of completions, around 80% of the total and a 14% annual rise.
• The figures set a baseline ahead of the new £39bn Social and Affordable Homes Programme running from 2026 to 2036.

Homes England has published its full-year housebuilding statistics for 2025 to 2026, pointing to a marked acceleration in social rent delivery as the affordable housing sector enters a new ten-year funding cycle. The release, covering the agency's programmes across England outside London, shows both starts and completions rising year on year, with affordable tenures forming the large majority of activity. The figures arrive as the wider residential market softens and as policy attention shifts firmly towards the supply of genuinely affordable and supported homes. ## What the figures show

The agency reported a clear annual uplift across its core delivery measures. The headline numbers cover the full financial year and exclude most London delivery, which falls under the Greater London Authority.

Within the affordable total, social rent was the standout, reflecting a deliberate policy steer towards the lowest-cost rental tenure over recent years.

• 42,433 new homes started on site and 40,332 completed between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026.
• Starts up 11% and completions up 9% on the previous year.
• 32,243 completions were affordable homes, a 14% annual increase representing 80% of all completions.
• Of affordable completions, 9,381 were for social rent, a 65% rise on the prior year.

more homes started, more homes completed, and a significant 65% increase in social rent completions.
Homes England, 2026

Why social rent matters here

Social rent sits at the most affordable end of the tenure spectrum and offers long-term security for residents. Specialist and supported homes, which include adapted accommodation for older people and for younger people with disabilities, are delivered alongside these mainstream affordable tenures within the same funding programmes.

The composition of delivery was not uniformly positive. Some intermediate and affordable rent categories fell, underlining how the mix is shifting rather than simply expanding across every tenure.

• Intermediate affordable housing schemes, including shared ownership and rent to buy, fell 34%.
• Affordable rent completions decreased 12% on the same period last year.
• 82% of affordable completions came through the Affordable Homes Programme 2021 to 2026.

The policy backdrop

The 2025 to 2026 year marked the closure of an older programme and the wind-down of the 2021 to 2026 Affordable Homes Programme, with a new framework now taking over. The Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes Programme 2016 to 2021 closed at the end of 2025 to 2026, having delivered 135,331 affordable homes over its lifetime.

Looking ahead, the Government has committed £39bn to the Social and Affordable Homes Programme running from 2026 to 2036, which aims to deliver 300,000 affordable homes with 60% of those for social rent. That target represents a significant change from the past decade, when only a small share of additional affordable homes were for social rent.

Independent analysts caution that delivery faces headwinds. Savills estimates around 189,000 new homes of all types were built in 2025 to 2026 and forecasts a fall to roughly 152,000 in 2026 to 2027, citing weaker development viability as build costs have risen far faster than house prices.

Taken together, the figures suggest the affordable and supported housing pipeline strengthened during 2025 to 2026, even as the wider sales market cooled and broader new-build completions are forecast to dip. With a new ten-year programme now underway and social rent firmly prioritised, the coming years will test whether this momentum can be sustained against a difficult viability backdrop. Silkwood Group will continue to monitor how these supply trends shape the supported housing landscape.

Sources

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This article is for general information and education only and does not constitute financial advice. Figures are drawn from the sources listed and were correct at the time of writing.

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