David McCooke
Confidence crisis: Why London’s housing market needs a new narrative
15/10/2025
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2 min
The latest figures from Molior London’s Q3 2025 report paint a stark picture for the capital’s housing market.
Just 5,933 new home sales were recorded in the first nine months of 2025, leading to only 3,248 private housing starts. Unless something changes, Molior forecasts that by 2027 only 15,000 to 20,000 new homes will be under construction in London — barely 10% of the level needed to meet government targets.
The industry’s response has been unanimous: frustration. Developers, consultants, and suppliers alike describe a market where deals feel “like pulling teeth,” where “the maths is simple — make development unattractive and you’ll get less of it,” and where confidence has drained from both investors and lenders.
From Policy to Reality
At recent party conferences, Labour’s tone was one of quiet confidence: the planning system reformed, targets set, the framework in place. The message was clear — “Build, Baby, Build.”
But confidence on paper hasn’t translated to cranes on the skyline. The structural problems go deeper: sales rates are too low to trigger finance, build-to-rent pipelines have collapsed, and hundreds of thousands of permissions sit unbuilt because schemes simply don’t stack up.
The result is a widening gap between policy ambition and market reality — and the question for the sector is shifting from what went wrong to how do we move forward.
When Confidence Becomes Currency
Developers can’t rewrite tax policy or redesign the planning system overnight. But what they can influence is how they communicate.
Because in a climate where “no buyers = no starts,” confidence itself has become a form of capital.
Investors, lenders, and local authorities are all seeking reassurance — proof that projects are viable, teams are capable, and delivery remains possible even amid headwinds. The developers who communicate that clearly will attract the partnerships and funding others cannot.
Those navigating this market successfully share a few common traits. They communicate early and often — not just with buyers, but with funders, local authorities, and partners. They provide clarity where others offer silence, share progress even when modest, and make the social and economic value of their projects visible.
They treat communication as infrastructure — a core part of delivery, not an afterthought. Because every stakeholder, from the mayor’s office to the mortgage lender, draws confidence from visibility.
That doesn’t mean spin or gloss. It means showing evidence:
Completed phases, not just pipeline.
Partnerships and apprenticeships that demonstrate social value.
Milestones met despite market pressure.
Proof that when others pause, your team continues to deliver.
The Communications Challenge
The housing shortage is as much about narrative as numbers. For a decade, the sector has been defined by crisis language — unaffordability, delay, inertia. Yet every site that progresses, every regeneration that completes, every buyer who moves in adds to a different story: one of resilience and delivery.
The task now is to make that story visible.
To rebuild confidence not only in the market, but in the people and organisations driving it.
Because when confidence is low, silence can be misread as inactivity. In contrast, consistent, transparent communication — across press, digital, and stakeholder channels — signals strength, progress, and accountability. It helps maintain trust when market conditions make delivery harder to see.
In this context, communication isn’t decoration; it’s continuity.
From Policy to Perception
If 2024 was the year of reform, 2025 has been the year of reckoning.
The next phase won’t be about rewriting frameworks — it will be about proving they work.
And in that environment, the property businesses that communicate delivery, credibility, and confidence will define the narrative of recovery.
Those who do so with clarity and consistency won’t just weather the slowdown — they’ll lead the conversation that rebuilds confidence in London’s housing market.
Because the cranes may be fewer, but the stories still matter.
And in London’s housing market, the story you tell may now be as important as the homes you build.
David McCooke
