The homebuilding challenge will continue to put the construction sector under pressure in 2025 and will need wholescale, ongoing collaboration cross industry and with government.

Our forecasts anticipate homebuilding output – public and private – to pick up from 2025, above total construction. This follows a predicted decline in private housing output in 2024. With homebuilders and smaller employers more likely to report a downsizing of their workforce due to economic pressures and pipeline uncertainty, it is more important than ever that we break down the barriers to developing a skilled construction workforce.

However, the homebuilding delivery challenge won’t just be addressed by growing a strong pipeline of apprentices and skilled workers. We also need to evolve and improve the skills system as a whole – for example, by defining competency standards with a shared understanding between industry, Government, and CITB. This will help move the industry away from simply hiring more, which is an important component but not the sole answer – industry needs to be more productive on site to ease the skills shortage impact.

Furthermore, we need the right skills policies in place: it is essential that the new Growth and Skills Levy drive up construction apprenticeship numbers that have declined under the Apprenticeship Levy.

Last year, CITB supported over 29,000 apprentices during their courses. However, apprenticeships are just one way into a construction career, and we need to ensure all these routes are clear, available and accessible, including people wanting to upskill or who have transferable skills from other industries.

In partnership with key homebuilders, CITB has launched a new Homebuilding Sector Skills Plan to target specific sector skills and training challenges. CITB will continue to work collaboratively and at pace with the Government, industry and training providers to drive the construction workforce skills needed to deliver sustained growth in homebuilding and the wider construction sector.