As we come to the end of 2025, it feels like the right time to pause and reflect. It has been a challenging year for the housing sector, but also one that has highlighted the resilience, determination and commitment of the Journey Homes team.
The Autumn Budget offered limited direct support for our industry. While the decision not to raise landfill tax was welcome, additional measures — such as meaningful stamp duty reform or renewed support for first-time buyers — would have helped stimulate demand and unlock much-needed housing delivery.
Looking ahead to 2026, we remain hopeful that housing policy will begin to play a more active role in supporting growth and improving access to new homes across the SME housing sector.
Against this backdrop, our strategy at Journey has remained clear and consistent: focus on the fundamentals, execute them exceptionally well, and continue delivering sustainable, design-led homes in the very best locations.
With updates to the National Planning Policy Framework beginning to take shape, there are early signs of cautious optimism across the sector — even as the tension between ambition and economic reality remains.
The reinstatement of mandatory housing targets in late 2024 has already led to an increase in planning applications and approvals. At the same time, the formal recognition of so-called “grey belt” land is starting to unlock sites and locations that were previously considered out of reach.
Together, these changes should help drive increased planning activity and encourage a renewed focus on Local Plan-led allocations into 2026 and beyond.
For Journey, a key milestone in 2026 will be the launch of our Strategic Land division. This will provide a clearer structure for managing our future pipeline and create a strong platform for long-term, sustainable growth.
At Journey, we believe development should deliver more than homes alone. Our focus is on creating places with a clear double bottom line: economic return and social return.
Over the past year, we have been particularly active in supporting village initiatives in South Weald, working closely with St Peter’s School and the Parish Church of St Peter’s. This has included sponsoring the St Peter’s School Girls’ Football Team and providing high-visibility safety jackets for local bus walks.
We were also proud to act as a Gold Sponsor of the South Weald Patronal Festival at the Parish Church of St Peter’s, supporting much-loved community events such as the School Fayre, Golf Day and Teddy Bears Picnic.
In 2026, we want to build on this momentum and support our local communities in even more meaningful and impactful ways wherever we operate.
Our construction activity in 2025 has focused on Vicarage Wood in South Weald, Brentwood. Having broken ground in March 2024, we are on track to reach practical completion in April 2026.
Quality remains at the heart of everything we do. We are absolutely focused on thoughtful design and an uncompromising attention to detail, ensuring that every home we deliver reflects the standards we set for ourselves as a business.
From a commercial perspective, we have seen improved subcontractor availability during 2025, resulting in stronger tender coverage and more competitive terms across several key trades. That said, long-term labour constraints continue to present challenges for the industry, driven by an ageing workforce, reduced apprenticeship numbers and the lasting impacts of Brexit.
While capacity has improved, the ability to scale quickly remains limited — making strong relationships, early engagement and careful planning more important than ever.
Looking ahead, we are delivering 10 design-led homes in 2026. Despite ongoing market uncertainty, we remain confident that the quality of our homes and the strength of their locations will underpin a strong sales performance.
Our team continues to sit at the heart of Journey Homes.
Throughout the year, colleagues have stepped up, taken responsibility and remained focused on delivery — strengthening leadership across the business and demonstrating the depth of talent within our team.
We have also been fortunate to work alongside excellent industry partners across architecture, planning, construction, branding and social media, all of whom play an important role in what we achieve.
During 2025, we secured new banking facilities with United Trust Bank, providing increased funding flexibility. Together with the continued support of our stakeholders, this gives us the confidence to keep investing in our business, our communities and our long-term future.
This has not been an easy year for the housebuilding sector, but it has been one in which Journey has continued to adapt, perform and move forward.
As we look ahead to 2026, we do so with clarity, cautious optimism and a strong platform for growth — built on sound fundamentals and, most importantly, a committed and talented team. While challenges remain, there are early signs that greater stability and renewed momentum may be on the horizon.
Finally, I would like to wish all my colleagues, partners and customers a very Happy New Year. I look forward to seeing what 2026 brings for Journey Homes.