Brick deliveries up but housebuilding activity ‘years away’ from 1.5m target
Written by admin on July 3, 2025
Brick deliveries were up by nearly a quarter in May 2025 compared with 12 months earlier, but remain far below levels seen in the years before 2023.
Latest building material figures from the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) suggest the housebuilding sector is picking up as the volume of bricks being used climbs.
There were 138 million deliveries of bricks in the month, compared with 120 million in May 2024.
The May 2025 figure was up from 125 million in April 2025.
Despite the increase, levels are well below those seen before the end of 2022 when the housing market slowed down following the Liz Truss government’s mini-budget.
In September 2022, the month the budget was delivered, brick deliveries ran at 180 million, with 182 million in May and 166 in April of that year.
Concrete block deliveries, reflective of the wider construction industry, were down by 0.3 per cent in May 2025 compared with May 2024.
On a month-on-month basis, they rose from 5.052 million square metres in April 2025, to 5.064 million square metres in May.
Construction Products Association economics director Noble Francis said the brick-delivery figures were in line with expectations, which reflected “that housebuilding starts are recovering from a very low base as interest and mortgage rates gradually fall while housebuilding completions will not rise as rapidly”.
He added: “We are still years away from 2022 levels of housebuilding, never mind the types of levels of housebuilding that government would need to get anywhere near its 1.5 million net additional homes in England during the five-year parliament target.”
According to the Office for National Statistics, economic uncertainty was the biggest factor constraining business growth in May 2025.
Earlier today, the government announced a new ambition to deliver around 300,000 social and affordable homes through the new £39bn Social and Affordable Homes Programme announced at the spending review. At least 60 per cent of the target is for socially rented homes.
It also said privately rented homes would come under the remit of the Decent Homes Standard for the first time.
Elsewhere, Andy Hill, chief executive of the Hill Group, called on the government to take more action on “structural issues” constraining housebuilding growth.
“We urge the government to take bold action by accelerating planning decisions, assisting with solutions to fund increased affordable housing going forward, and introducing targeted measures to support first-time buyers,” he said.
