Coronavirus threatens to halve London housebuilding

Coronavirus is dealing a harsh blow to London’s housing market, with the curbs on construction threatening to put already distant targets out of sight. Private development in the UK capital could fall by more than 50 per cent if the pandemic keeps building sites closed until July, real estate group CBRE has warned. That would mean just 10,000 delivered this year by the private sector, against an average of 22,000 a year for the past five years. Even if work resumes next month, CBRE anticipates that just 15,000 homes will be built by private developers this year. Housing associations and local authorities, which between them add thousands of homes a year, have also been forced to pause building. Although the government has stopped short of mandating site closures, most contractors and housebuilders have downed tools with social distancing measures making safe work difficult.