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Housing supply data sources

This note sets out the measures of housing supply used by the GLA, reflecting the different targets set out in the Mayor’s London Plan  and the London Housing Strategy.

London Plan

The housing provision targets set out in the London Plan are defined in terms of total net housing supply, comprising two components:

  • Conventional completions: self-contained homes from new build, conversions or changes of use
  • Non-conventional completions: non-self-contained housing such as bedrooms in hostels or halls of residence.

Progress against these targets is monitored in the London Plan Annual Monitoring Report.

The source for both conventional and non-conventional completions is the Planning London Datahub, which incorporates data from its predecessor the London Development Database. The Datahub is a detailed database of housing developments created from data provided by London borough planning departments and checked by the GLA.

London Development Database SQL Extract
Greater London Authority (GLA)
Updated almost 6 years ago
This is a copy of the final London Development Database. This is the entire LDD database exported as a .sql.tar using pg_dump. For information on how to use this file and details of the database tables please refer to the document London Development database export.pdf All data is provided by London’s planning authorities. An extract from the database can be…

2 files(160.06 MB)

zip file iconldddata_200713.sql.tar.gzpdf file iconLondon Development database export.pdf

The Datastore is continuously updated with new data, but there might be lags in reporting or processing. This means that summary figures (e.g., total number of quarterly planning approvals, starts or completions) might change for several months after the end of the period they describe.

The conventional component of total housing supply is reported by the GLA to MHCLG who publish it as part of their national statistics on the ‘Net supply of housing’.

MHCLG also publish quarterly ‘indicators of new supply‘ based on building control data. These statistics are not comparable to the conventional housing supply statistics published by GLA or MHCLG themselves, as they cover only new build developments (i.e. no conversions or acquisitions) and are reported on a gross rather than net basis. They are also known to undercount new build completions.

A more useful indicator of new housing supply are the statistics on Energy Performance Certificates for new dwellings published by MHCLG. These are published weekly.

London Housing Strategy

The affordable housing targets set out in the London Housing Strategy are monitored using MHCLG’s national statistics on affordable housing supply. These statistics cover not just new build but also acquisitions of existing private sector homes for affordable housing. They are released on an annual basis with a lag of several months and combine data from a range of sources including GLA programme monitoring statistics.

GLA funding supports the majority of affordable housing supply in London, and publishes its own statistics on these homes on a quarterly basis, with a shorter time lag than MHCLG. The GLA also publishes separate statistics on housing delivered specifically by local authorities (councils).