Housebuilders say new UK homes generated £60 billion for local communities – but nobody is checking where the money goes
Key Points
- The Home Builders Federation puts the social and economic value of new homes built in England in 2024/25 at more than £60 billion, including £9 billion for affordable housing and around £600 million for schools.
- The same research says home building supported 734,000 jobs in England, with a further 18,000 in Wales.
- HBF wants government to give local authorities the resources to manage and monitor Section 106 contributions, and to publish clearer information on how developers' money gets spent.
- The figures come from HBF's own Power to Belong campaign, and the £60 billion total is attributed both to England alone and to England and Wales combined in different parts of the same release.
- The findings land as Prime Minister Andy Burnham hands mayors greater control over housing, transport and public services.
The Home Builders Federation says the 209,000 homes delivered in England in 2024/25 generated more than £60 billion in social and economic value, and is asking government to make sure councils can actually track the portion that flows to local services.
Developers pay towards infrastructure and services as a condition of planning permission, and HBF’s figures break that contribution down.
The trade body attributes more than £9 billion to affordable housing, £1.3 billion to infrastructure including around £600 million for new and improved schools, and £188 million to open spaces and leisure facilities.
It puts the wider economic effect at £46 billion of activity, £6 billion of spending in local shops and 734,000 jobs supported, around 9,000 of them apprentices, graduates or trainees.
The HBF said last year’s homes funded 42,000 school places and the equivalent of more than 1,640 football pitches of community space.
Wales completed 5,159 homes in 2025/26, which HBF says produced £1.1 billion in economic activity, £230 million for affordable housing, £32 million for infrastructure and support for around 18,000 jobs.
The HBF is now calling on government to ensure local authorities have the resources and capacity to manage and monitor Section 106 contributions, the agreements that tie developers to funding community facilities.
The organisation also wants greater transparency on how those contributions get used and clearer guidance to ensure the money is delivered as intended, so communities can see what a development near them has paid for. Neither the release nor the campaign publishes a figure for how much agreed Section 106 money goes undelivered or unmonitored.
Mayors are due to gain greater control over funding and decision-making under the devolution programme Burnham launched after taking office in July, and HBF is pressing local leaders to use those powers to unlock housing delivery.
“New homes are about much more than bricks and mortar. Our research shows that home building is generating more than £60 billion in investment and economic value across England and Wales, helping to fund the affordable housing, schools, infrastructure, parks, local businesses and jobs that communities rely on,” said Neil Jefferson, Chief Executive of the Home Builders Federation.
“Behind every new development is a wider contribution that helps the community grow and thrive,” Jefferson added.
