By Mark Leaf, chief development officer at Strata
After a turbulent 2025, our trade enters 2026 with a renewed sense of goal. Final 12 months pushed each a part of the market, from builders and native authorities, to planning groups and registered suppliers, to rethink the way in which we work. Whereas lots of the challenges had been sudden, the response throughout the sector has been overwhelmingly optimistic. A drive in the direction of innovation, partnership, and better requirements is now shaping the panorama for the longer term.
What did we be taught in 2025?
It’s no secret that 2025 was powerful. The graduation and supply of recent houses stalled in locations the place delays to long term grant funding regime created a hiatus within the dedication to new websites with supply put up March 2028. Many reasonably priced housing suppliers had been left unable to maneuver ahead, and that knock-on impact slowed planning throughout the board. On the similar time, open-market situations cooled and required a special method.
But one factor grew to become clear. The trade’s underlying need to ship new top quality houses by no means wavered. As an alternative, it unlocked a degree of innovation we don’t often see in housebuilding. Companions got here collectively to seek out options that saved schemes viable and mixed-tenure developments shifting.
For Strata, partnerships have all the time been a part of the long-term plan, however 2025 accelerated that technique. We broadened who we promote to, and labored extra creatively with registered suppliers and traders to strengthen our proposition in shared possession, reasonably priced housing, and single household housing. These new relationships have sustained development whereas making a extra balanced, resilient enterprise for the longer term.
Key traits to observe in 2026
1. Planning reform that lastly speeds issues up
A big shift will come from planning. With selections now often taking as much as two years, in comparison with simply 16 weeks seven years in the past, the system is overdue for reform. The present Invoice intends to chop this backlog and liberate assets inside planning groups.
If delivered as meant, this may give companions higher certainty on deliverability and funding. For housing associations and native authorities, the power to hit important grant deadlines extra simply could possibly be transformative. It additionally introduces the potential for longer-term prosperity planning relatively than short-term firefighting.
2. Reasonably priced housing demand will rise
Bulletins round social and reasonably priced housing funding will proceed to play a defining position. We’re anticipating elevated demand not only for reasonably priced models on open-market schemes, however for totally reasonably priced and mixed-tenure developments. The sector’s urge for food for any such supply is robust, and the correct funding atmosphere may unlock elevated momentum.
3. Open-market uncertainty will proceed
Mortgage availability and rates of interest stay unpredictable. We noticed how shortly market confidence shifted in 2025, and it’s affordable to anticipate the identical volatility in 2026 except one thing radical modifications. Builders might want to keep agile, and mixed-tenure fashions shall be a stabilising power as soon as once more.
4. Construct-to-rent will plateau
Single-family build-to-rent has grown quickly, however we anticipate a levelling-off. A number of components will drive this together with slowing rental inflation, stronger tenant protections by means of the Renters’ Rights Act, and better tax burdens.
Shopping for might develop into extra engaging than renting for a lot of households, whereas investor urge for food may soften. This might scale back the quantity of BTR housing, however it places higher worth on robust, long-term partnerships which provide top quality, sustainable houses to lease.
How can we put together for 2026?
Having a balanced, adaptable enterprise mannequin and a transparent plan to assist companions by means of these shifts is essential. Streamlining home sorts to fulfill rising laws and construct flexibility into specs, from off-gas heating options, power creation and battery storage, will allow companions to decide on what works for his or her communities.
By broadening buyer bases throughout personal consumers, traders, and registered suppliers, we will preserve resilience in altering market situations. Deepening collaborations with housing associations and more and more working with native authorities and traders to assist speed up supply ambitions can also be essential.
2026 received’t be with out its challenges, however with renewed momentum in planning, clearer grant pathways, and a extra collaborative sector, it presents one of many strongest alternatives we’ve seen in years to speed up housing supply. At Strata, we’re able to play our half in making that occur.
