Mayor says 8,000 homes built ahead of 2030 target

Sir Sadiq Khan says there is more work to do to fix the housing crisis in London

The mayor of London has claimed he is tackling the city's housing crisis "head on" as he announced that more than 8,000 new homes have been started via his Land Fund, five years ahead of schedule.

Sir Sadiq Khan said the fund provided flexibility for City Hall to provide financing for projects, which includes buying land, to "unlock" more homebuilding.

The mayor also reported that last year saw London complete just over 11,600 homes, with nearly 6,700 of them "affordable homes for social rent and equivalent".

The City Hall Conservatives said "this is a clearly a smoke-and-mirrors announcement by the mayor to distract from his housing failures".

The mayor's fund has provided land acquisition finance to councils and trusts

City Hall said the initial target to start 8,000 homes by March 2030 had now been surpassed, with 8,283 starts as of the end of March 2025.

In May the mayor and the government announced a cut of more than 6,000 homes to the affordable homes programme, for 2021-2026, from the previous range of 23,900 to 27,100 starts.

The reduction – with a new target range of between 17,800 and 19,000 – represented a cut of 22%.

Lord Bailey, City Hall Conservatives' housing spokesman, said: "Khan's own government have set him the target of building 88,000 homes a year, in recognition of the acute housing crisis in London which is driving our rents and mortgages up.

"Today he's proud to be announcing that he's only met one eighth of that target.

"We want this government to succeed, for the sake of our city and our country - but Labour have clearly failed."

Lord Bailey said "just 2.5% of his promised affordable homes" were completed despite receiving almost £9bn from the last government.

He added: "We need to move away from talking about 'housing starts' - you cannot live in a start, only a completion."

Angela Rayner says she will work with the mayor to deliver the new homes target

The Mayor's Land Fund, established by Sir Sadiq in 2017, is made up of more than £736m - with £486m provided by the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government.

It provides various types of investment and has a range of investment opportunities alongside commercial partners.

The fund has provided land acquisition finance to help the Peabody Trust deliver nearly 1,000 homes on the former Holloway Prison site in Islington; bought surplus land on hospital sites capable of delivering up to 1,000 homes across Enfield and Haringey; and supported City & Docklands with finance for build-to-rent homes.

Sir Sadiq said: "We know there is more work to do to fix the housing crisis in London. I'm pleased that the government has committed to work with me to establish the City Hall Developer Investment Fund to unlock further housing in London.

"I will continue to work closely with them to secure even more national support to help build the level of new housing London needs, as we build a better, fairer London for everyone."

Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary Angela Rayner said the housing crisis "has stopped our young people from achieving the dream of homeownership, especially in London".

She added: "That's why we welcome the mayor of London pushing ahead to build these homes, and we will continue to work hand-in-hand with him to deliver on our stretching target of 1.5 million homes."