Savills and the British Property Federation have sharply criticised the time it takes to secure planning consent for rental homes across the country.
The agency and the trade body claim the time to win consent has doubled in London in the last six years, from an average of eight months to 15 months.
This is 150% longer than the statutory time limit for major applications.
A similar slowdown in planning consents being granted has been seen across the country, with applications taking up to 14 months to determine.
The organisations are concerned at the impact this has on Build To Rent (BTR).
Jacqui Daly, a director of Savills Residential Research, says: “With the UK facing a housing shortage, build‑to‑rent is playing an increasingly important role in boosting overall supply, now accounting for close to one in ten new homes delivered.
“The sector has demonstrated its ability to adapt in the face of rising costs, tighter regulation and viability pressures.
“But continued delays across planning and the building safety regime are holding back delivery.
“If Build To Rent is to realise its full potential as a scalable and reliable source of new homes, it needs a more supportive operating environment, one that improves planning efficiency, provides regulatory certainty and enables schemes to progress quicker from consent to construction.”
The number of BTR homes in planning has increased marginally by 2% on the year nationwide, and is up 6% in the capital from 36,559 ito 41,968.
Despite this overall increase in homes in planning, the number of schemes at the detailed application stage has fallen by 17% since the last quarter.
At the same time, the number of homes under construction continues to fall for the ninth consecutive quarter, down 17% on the year from 59,874 to 49,984 nationwide.
In London the figure is even starker, down 29% from 17,138 to 12,134, as the enduring impact of delays at the Building Safety Regulator is felt across the construction industry.
Some 8% of new homes are now BTR according to the analysis, with the data showing that the tenure makes a vital contribution to overall housing delivery despite a backdrop of tax and regulatory pressures.
In response to viability challenges and building safety regulations, scheme sizes are growing, with 80% of the BTR pipeline being schemes of more than 100 homes.
Of the 1,002 completed schemes, the average development size was 147 homes, with 512 schemes being for less than 100 homes.
The average size of schemes going through planning is now 295, accounting for incoming second staircase legislation and the increasing cost of land.
The British Property Federation argues that incoming planning reform and revisions to the National Planning Policy Framework can assist in streamlining decision-making.
But it adds that they are hampered by a continued gulf between proposed changes and implementation, delaying planning decisions to the detriment of new homes delivery. In particular, improving planning resource.
The federation estimates 3,000 additional planners are required to boost capacity – and ensuring that rigorous but deliverable local plans are in place must be prioritised.
