According to new analysis by Savills, unveiled during Housing Week 2025, the Welsh housing market has proved remarkably robust during 2025 with house prices showing annual growth and sales activity at its strongest in several years.
The Savills Welsh Housing Market and Supply Update research report was launched at our Headquarters in Cardiff as part of Day 2 of our 2025 Housing Week. Around 50 invited stakeholders attended the event, which saw us partner with Savills to discuss Wales’ real estate future.
Caroline O’Flaherty, Partner and Head of Social Housing, was thrilled to collaborate with Savills again as part of Housing Week 2025:
“The Savills report is one of the highlights of Housing Week, where we focus on bringing together the housebuilding sectors for constructive discussions.
The panel I chaired featured representatives from Welsh Government, the Development Bank of Wales, housing associations and the housebuilding sector. The discussion emphasised the importance of unlocking strategic public sector land, ensuring funding mechanisms are more innovative than grant alone, and the need to foster greater collaboration between registered social landlords (RSLs) and housebuilders on larger sites.
Importantly, we witnessed the start of some key conversations on projects that will make genuine progress towards housebuilding targets. The overriding theme from the event was the need to unlock the planning system with sufficient resource to process applications swiftly, ensuring the delivery of the homes and communities Wales needs.”
According to the research, house price growth stood at 3.1% in the year to September 2025 and at 2.2% in the first nine months of this year, while sales transactions exceeded 2024 levels by 12.4%, supported by gradually falling mortgage rates and improving affordability.
This is an outperformance of the UK market, which saw prices rise by 2.3% in the year to September and by just 0.5% in the first nine months of 2025.
However, despite this positive market backdrop, the outlook for housing development remains concerning. New home completions have fallen to their lowest level in over a decade, starts sit at a record low, and planning consents have dropped by 26% year-on-year – signalling a weak outlook for delivery. A more detailed analysis of the findings from the event can be found on Savills’ website.
Dan Hill, Associate, Research Analyst at Savills Residential Research said:
“Despite the remarkably resilient market, our analysis shows a downward trend in the delivery of new homes in Wales, with completions, starts and consents all at a record low.”
“Progress is being made on replacement Local Development Plans, but we are seeing limited capacity to deliver on Plan targets. Resource, or lack thereof, is and will continue to be a significant issue in the coming years, alongside more localised challenges such as nutrient pollution, with the number of new homes likely to continue to fall based on this evidence.”
Emily Williams, Director at Savills Residential Research, also commented:
“The extension of the Help to Buy scheme in Wales in January to September 2026 was good news for first-time buyers and for the sector, helping new homes maintain a competitive advantage over second-hand, therefore aiding viability. However, the value cap remains unchanged from 2014, while house prices have increased, limiting the positive impact.”
Following the presentation from the Savills Research team, Nick Bennett, Director of Strategic Advisory at Savills, added a crucial political perspective, drawing on his wide experience across the public, private and not-for-profit sectors in Wales, as well as within the EU, to share insights on the upcoming Spring elections and their potential impact on the property sector.
Reflecting on the latest report, Caroline Jones, Savills Cardiff, who organised the event on behalf of Savills, said:
“The research presents a mixed picture of the housing market in Wales. On the one hand it shows impressive resilience, especially considering the political and economic uncertainties this year, while on the other, it highlights the significant challenges we face in terms of delivery – both in the private and affordable sectors.
“We know that the demand for land is particularly strong from both the private and affordable housing developers in Wales. It is crucial that more development opportunities become available not just to deliver much needed housing options, but because of the significant economic impact. Building has such a positive impact on local communities by delivering social value, training and employment opportunities.”
