State of Brownfield 2026
In 2025, there was enough brownfield land to accommodate a minimum of 1.54 million homes across England, exceeding the government’s national housing delivery pledge of 1.5 million. Over the last 4 years (2022-2025), there has been a steady increase in brownfield sites, area and minimum net dwellings – each year, there is more brownfield land that is left untapped.
1.5m
1.54m
859,722
Our research, based on brownfield register data, shows that the number of brownfield sites has grown every year since 2018. This shows that the government’s own ‘brownfield-first’ policy lacks teeth. If it was being properly enforced, we would see this figure coming down more as brownfield sites are developed and come off the register.
Overall, there is enough brownfield for a potential 1.54m homes.
Of the 1.54 million potential brownfield homes in 2025, over 850,000 have planning permission, which is around 56%. On average, the percentage of dwellings with planning permission account for 51.5%. Planning permission seems not to be a barrier to delivering brownfield development.
In 2025, only 61% of brownfield registers in England were updated – more than a third are outdated.
Brownfield registers are inconsistently updated and formatted across local planning authorities (LPAs), which results in an incomplete picture of our national brownfield capacity.
Our recommendations
A brownfield-first approach should be prioritised through:
- Enforcing a genuine brownfield-first policy for new housing, including by focusing Homes England investment on brownfield sites and rejecting speculative greenfield development.
- Giving mayors and strategic authorities the power to set local housing targets, including for social and brownfield homes.
- Providing targeted investment to unlock brownfield sites that are not yet commercially viable, rather than defaulting to countryside/Green Belt release.
- Setting ambitious and enforceable targets for affordable and social homes on shovel-ready brownfield sites.
- Streamlining and enforcing a system for recording and updating brownfield registers across all LPAs.
View the report overview and data tables here.
Enough brownfield land for 1.54 million new homes, our new research shows
Our new research shows that there’s enough brownfield for 1.54m homes — more than the target Angela Rayner recently said we had a ‘slim chance’ of achieving.
Rayner’s 1.5 million homes target was built on the wrong foundations
The government’s 1.5 million homes target was always likely to fall short, not because of construction costs or war, but because the formula behind it was written to suit big housebuilders rather than measure real need. Read more in a blog written by CPRE’s CEO Roger Mortlock.
