Only 37 homes were finished in Epsom and Ewell in 2025/26, the fewest since at least 2007, and none were affordable. The borough has a 1.6-year land supply.
Just 37 new homes were completed in Epsom and Ewell in the year to 31 March 2026. Not one of them was an affordable home.
That is the lowest figure in the council’s records going back to 2007/08. The previous low was 103 homes, in 2009/10. It is also the first year in that run with no affordable homes at all.
The figures are in the council’s Authority Monitoring Report for 2025/26. Councils have to publish one every year. It goes to the Licensing and Planning Policy Committee on Tuesday 22 September.
Where the 37 homes were built
Twelve of the 37 came from a single site, 140 Ruxley Lane. It is the only large development the report lists for the year.
By ward, the completions were:
- Town: 15
- Ruxley: 14
- Ewell Village: 4
- Stoneleigh: 3
- Court: 1
The borough’s other nine wards had none. They are Auriol, College, Cuddington, Ewell Court, Horton, Nonsuch, Stamford, West Ewell, and Woodcote and Langley Vale.
Most were small homes. There were 10 one-bedroom homes, 14 with two bedrooms, 10 with three and 3 with four. The report says 92% were built on previously developed land. The only greenfield homes were three houses on a vacant plot.
A ten-year slide
| Year | Market homes | Affordable homes | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016/17 | 237 | 57 | 294 |
| 2017/18 | 138 | 22 | 160 |
| 2018/19 | 117 | 48 | 165 |
| 2019/20 | 165 | 28 | 193 |
| 2020/21 | 164 | 5 | 169 |
| 2021/22 | 110 | 7 | 117 |
| 2022/23 | 250 | 67 | 317 |
| 2023/24 | 117 | 22 | 139 |
| 2024/25 | 110 | 2 | 112 |
| 2025/26 | 37 | 0 | 37 |
Source: Authority Monitoring Report 2025/26, Table 8.
The council’s own policy, CS9, says 35% of new homes overall should be affordable. Over all nineteen years in the table, the borough managed 24%: 955 affordable homes out of 3,963.
The report records one development of more than ten homes that will pay an off-site affordable housing contribution instead of building affordable homes on site. That was agreed in a legal agreement, after a viability report.
How far behind the borough is
The government’s standard method sets how many homes each area should plan for. For Epsom and Ewell, the report puts that at 834 homes for 2025/26. The borough built 37, a shortfall of 797 in one year.
Over the four years since the draft Local Plan period began in April 2022, the gap adds up:
- homes needed under the standard method: 2,850
- homes built: 605
- shortfall: 2,245
The standard method figure has moved a lot in that time. It was 576 in 2022/23 and 867 in 2024/25. The government updated the formula in December 2024.
A 1.6-year land supply
Councils are meant to show they have enough deliverable sites for five years of housing. Epsom and Ewell cannot. The report calculates a supply of 1.59 to 1.64 years.
The five-year target is 5,004 homes. That includes a 20% extra buffer, because the council failed the government’s Housing Delivery Test in 2023. Against it, the council counts:
- 574 homes under construction
- 736 homes with planning permission not yet started, after allowing 5% not to go ahead
- 207 to 258 homes on deliverable sites without permission
- 70 homes from small windfall sites
The report notes that failing the delivery test means national policy’s “presumption in favour of sustainable development” applies. In practice, that makes planning applications for housing harder for the council to refuse.
Some better news
The 574 homes under construction are more than fifteen times last year’s total. They will not all finish in one year, but they point to more completions ahead.
The year also brought the borough’s first neighbourhood plan. The Stoneleigh and Auriol Neighbourhood Plan was formally made and is now part of the planning rules for that area.
What it means for you
If you are waiting for affordable housing, the pipeline is very thin. No affordable homes were finished last year and only two the year before. The draft Local Plan’s affordable housing policies cannot help until it is adopted.
If you are objecting to a housing scheme, expect the land supply figure to come up. Developers at appeal point to it, and the council’s own Local Plan report warns of more “speculative planning applications” while the plan is unfinished. The Langley Vale inquiry into 110 homes opens today.
If you want the bigger picture, the same committee meeting considers the inspector’s changes to the Local Plan. Those raise the borough’s target to 6,012 homes by 2040. We cover them in our report on the 16 new sites. The modified plan sets the first four years’ target at 152 homes a year, matching what was actually built, then 386 a year to 2040.
For what homes cost in the borough now, see our Epsom house prices page.
Sources
- Authority Monitoring Report 2025/26, Appendix 1: Tables 2 to 8 and Appendix A
- Covering report to the Licensing and Planning Policy Committee
- Committee agenda, 22 September 2026
- Local Plan main modifications report, paragraphs 3.6 and 7.3
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