Five-year housing land supply and the Housing Delivery Test, explained
Checked against its sources on 7 Nov 2026
Every council must show it has enough deliverable sites for at least five years of new homes, and the government measures each year whether it has actually built enough 1. A council that can't show a five-year supply, or that builds less than 75% of the homes it needed, is treated as having an unmet need for housing 1,2.
That makes it easier to get permission for homes on land outside towns and villages, as long as the site is well related to an existing settlement and of a scale local infrastructure can take 2.
How many homes a council needs
The government's standard method starts from 0.8% of the homes already in the area each year, then adds more where homes are expensive relative to local wages: 0.95% for every 1% that the affordability ratio is above 5 1. The result is the minimum number of homes the area needs, not a target set in stone; the council sets its housing requirement in its Local Plan 1,7.
The five-year supply
Councils must identify, and update every year, at least five years' worth of deliverable sites, measured against the housing requirement in their plan, or against the standard method figure once that requirement is more than five years old 1. On top of that they must add a buffer 1:
| Buffer | When |
|---|---|
| 5% | Normally 1. |
| 20% | Where delivery has fallen significantly short: below 85% in the Housing Delivery Test 1. |
| 20% | For decisions on applications, where the plan's requirement was adopted in the last five years under an older version of national policy and is 80% or less of the current standard method figure 1. |
A site counts as deliverable only if it is available now, suitable and achievable, with homes realistically built within five years; an allocated site without planning permission needs clear evidence that it will deliver in that time 3.
Annual position statements, where an inspector confirmed a council's supply for a year, were removed from national policy in December 2024 8. A council's latest position is usually in its five-year housing land supply statement or monitoring report, on its planning policy pages.
The Housing Delivery Test
Each year the government compares the homes built in each area over three years with the homes that were needed 4. The result sets what the council must do next 1:
| Score | Consequence |
|---|---|
| Below 95% | The council must publish an action plan to speed up delivery 1,6. |
| Below 85% | It must also add a 20% buffer to its five-year supply 1. |
| Below 75% | An unmet need for housing is deemed to exist 1. |
The latest results, the 2025 measurement, were published on 17 August 2026 and cover the three years to 2024/25 4,5. By our count of the published results, 90 of the 274 planning authorities in the main table scored below 75%, 19 more were below 85% and 27 more below 95% 4.
What happens when a council falls short
National policy lists the kinds of development that should be approved outside towns and villages, unless the benefits are substantially outweighed by the harm 2. One of them is development that meets an evidenced unmet need, which for housing means no five-year supply or a Housing Delivery Test score below 75% 2. The homes must be physically well related to an existing settlement and of a scale the infrastructure can accommodate 2.
In the Green Belt, the same shortfall is what allows building on grey belt land: see our guide to Green Belt and grey belt.
It is not a free-for-all. Proposals are still weighed against the rest of national policy, including its protections for landscapes, wildlife and flood risk, and a neighbourhood plan made in the last five years that allocates sites for its housing requirement still protects against conflicting schemes 2.
Before August 2026 this was known as the tilted balance, under paragraph 11(d) of the old Framework. The 2026 Framework replaced it with the unmet-need test above 2,9.
Your council's position
Every council page on Check That Field shows the five-year supply and Housing Delivery Test result we hold for it: find your council. A shortfall adds to the score of every field in the council's area: see how the score works.
Check a field
See how likely any field in England is to be built on, with the Local Plan sites, planning applications and protections behind the score. How the score works.
Check a field, freeSources
- National Planning Policy Framework, annex D: housing calculations and supply, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, August 2026.
- National Planning Policy Framework, chapter 4: achieving sustainable development (S1 to S6), Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, August 2026.
- National Planning Policy Framework, annex B: glossary, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, August 2026.
- Housing Delivery Test: 2025 measurement, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, 17 August 2026.
- Housing Delivery Test: 2025 measurement, technical note, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, 17 August 2026.
- Planning practice guidance: housing supply and delivery, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, updated 12 December 2024.
- Planning practice guidance: housing and economic needs assessment, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, updated 24 February 2025.
- Planning practice guidance: housing land supply annual position statements, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, updated 8 January 2025.
- National Planning Policy Framework (December 2024 version, archived), The National Archives, archived 12 August 2026.
A plain-English summary, not planning or legal advice. For a decision about a particular property, speak to a planning consultant or solicitor.