Housing and shared living
The housing and shared living planning index stands at 167, 67% above the 2016 share, with five of its nine topics at record shares.
In brief
- Five topics took their highest share since 2016 in the year to September 2026: HMOs (houses in multiple occupation, shared by unrelated tenants), co-living, supported accommodation, Gypsy and Traveller pitches and Section 106.
- Retrospective applications made up 19,421 of the theme's 31,877 in those 12 months, and HMOs 8,942.
- Office-to-residential conversions drew 1,544 and stand at 58 on the planning index. Bedsits, at 34, are about a third of their 2016 share.
Q3 2026 against a year earlier
By topic
| Topic | Applications | Share, Q3 2025 | Share, Q3 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retrospective applications | 4,628 | 470 | 450 | down 4% |
| HMOs | 2,085 | 196 | 203 | up 3% |
| Office-to-residential conversions | 388 | 34 | 38 | up 12% |
| Section 106 | 308 | 27 | 30 | up 12% |
| Affordable housing | 208 | 22 | 20 | down 9% |
| Gypsy and Traveller pitches | 160 | 14 | 16 | up 15% |
| Supported accommodation | 140 | 11 | 14 | up 26% |
| Bedsits | 18 | 3.1 | 1.8 | Under 40 |
| Co-living | 23 | 1.1 | 2.2 | Under 40 |
Applications in Q3 2026. Share is the number in every 10,000 applications.
Out of every 10,000 applications
All 9 topics together: 739 in every 10,000 applications in Q3 2026, against 745 a year earlier.
Homes: schemes of 10 to 49 homes fell furthest; schemes of 50 or more homes picked up after 2024
From 2016 to the 12 months to September 2026, applications for 10 to 49 homes fell 64%, for 2 to 9 homes 47%, for a single home 45%, and for 50 or more homes 42%. Total planning applications fell 31% over the same years, so each band's share of them fell less than its count. In every 10,000 applications, schemes of 10 to 49 homes went from 84 to 44. Schemes of 50 or more homes picked up in number and in share: 1,032 applications in the 12 months to June 2024 and 1,476 in the 12 months to September 2026, a planning index of 54 then and 84 now.
Housing applications by number of homes proposed
Each band's planning index: its share of all applications over the 12 months to each month, with its 2016 share set at 100.
The past 12 months against the year before and 2016
In every 10,000 of all 628,676 applications in 2016 and 434,726 in the 12 months to September 2026.
| Homes proposed | Applications | In every 10,000 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 12 months before | Last 12 months | 2016 | Last 12 months | |
| 1 home | 34,316 | 20,644 | 18,954 | 546 | 436 |
| 2 to 9 homes | 26,762 | 14,772 | 14,167 | 426 | 326 |
| 10 to 49 homes | 5,302 | 2,073 | 1,918 | 84 | 44 |
| 50 or more homes | 2,551 | 1,303 | 1,476 | 41 | 34 |
Topics in this theme
About Plota
Plota is the UK's most visited planning search, according to Similarweb. It shows every new planning application from every UK council, read daily from 390 planning registers, with past applications back to 2016 from more than 420 registers, including those of councils since merged. It also covers planning committee decisions, HMO licences and premises licences.
How this is measured
- The theme's planning index: the applications for its 9 topics over the previous 12 months, as a share of all applications, with the 2016 share set at 100.
- Each application counts once in a theme, even when it names two of the theme's topics, so the topics can add up to more than the theme.
- Topics: each counts applications whose description names it, or a close variant of the words. Each topic's matches were checked one by one, by reading its 200 most recent applications and 20 from every year since 2016. Topics count planning applications, not completed schemes. The largest energy and infrastructure projects are consented nationally rather than by councils, so they sit outside these counts.
- Homes by the number proposed: applications that state a number of new homes, with a replacement home counted as one; reserved matters, amendments, householder applications, HMOs and holiday or student units are left out.
- Topic counts leave out, by design, works to trees and applications that only discharge conditions, amend an earlier permission or approve reserved matters, which follow a scheme already counted. Everything else is counted.
- Planning is seasonal, so each quarter is compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
- Year on year: each topic's and theme's share of all applications in Q3 2026, against Q3 2025, at every council we hold. A share is the number in every 10,000 applications. Shares compare across councils and years; raw counts do not.
- Left out of the topic shares: Birmingham's applications from June to September 2026: a validation backlog at the council since June 2026: of 685 reference numbers it issued in September, its register lists 288. The same months a year earlier are left out too, so every comparison covers the same councils.
- Source: the planning registers of every UK council, January 2016 to September 2026, read on 9 November 2026.