Skip to main content
Designing planning and housing data

BETA This is a new service - your feedback will help us to improve it.

Planning consideration

Affordability index

To determine the minimum number of homes needed, strategic policies should be informed by a local housing need assessment, conducted using the standard method in national planning practice guidance. The standard method is a calculation informed by existing housing stock and affordability.

Design stage
Backlog
Tags

View a glossary of tags

Github
Join the discussion
Synonyms
No synonyms added
Legislation
No legislation added
Expected number of records
Unknown
Frequency of updates
Unknown
Useful links
No useful links added
Technical specification
No specification added

Background information

Each planning consideration we work on passes through the stages of our design process, where we research and answer specific questions to help us collect more information.

Backlog

  • Who asked for 'Affordability index' data?

    Claire, planning policy SME

  • What is the driver for the request?

    National policy change

  • Which 2024 focus area does the request support?

    • Faster local plans

Screen

  • What is the 'Affordability index' consideration?

    To determine the minimum number of homes needed, strategic policies should be informed by a local housing need assessment, conducted using the standard method in national planning practice guidance. The standard method is a calculation informed by existing housing stock and affordability.

    The PPG on housing and economic needs assessment states that the House price to workplace-based earnings ratio dataset should be used when calculating local housing need through the standard method, which is an ONS dataset.

  • Is there legislation that defines 'Affordability index'?

  • Who, in law, is responsible for the planning consideration or makes decisions about 'Affordability index'?

  • Which organisations do we think should publish the data?

    • Office for National Statistics

  • Is the Affordability index a trigger?

    No

  • Is the Affordability index something to consult during plan making?

    Yes

    • Provide information about when Affordability index is used during plan making

      Housing need is an unconstrained assessment of the minimum number of homes needed in an area. Assessing housing need is the first step in the process of deciding how many homes need to be planned for.

      The housing requirement is the minimum number of homes that a plan seeks to provide during the plan period.

      To determine the minimum number of homes needed, strategic policies should be informed by a local housing need assessment, conducted using the standard method in national planning practice guidance. The standard method is a calculation informed by existing housing stock and affordability.

      Once local housing need has been assessed, as set out in this guidance, authorities should then make an assessment of the amount of new homes that can be provided in their area. This should be justified by evidence on land availability, constraints on development and any other relevant matters.

  • Is there any Affordability index data already available?

    Yes

  • Do we think the data should come from a single source?

    Yes

  • Will a data standard be required?

    No

Research

  • Do we understand the lifecycle of a Affordability index?

  • Do we understand how the data is created/produced?

  • Where will or should the data be used?

  • Local housing need, 5 year housing land supply, housing and economic land supply, housing delivery test, housing numbers, local plans, existing housing stock

  • Who are the statutory consultees for Affordability index?

  • Other than the statutory consultees who are the primary users of Affordability index? How do we expect them to use Affordability index?

    LPAs, developers, planning consultants

  • What are the planning needs for this data?

    Housing need is an unconstrained assessment of the minimum number of homes needed in an area. Assessing housing need is the first step in the process of deciding how many homes need to be planned for.

    The housing requirement is the minimum number of homes that a plan seeks to provide during the plan period.

    To determine the minimum number of homes needed, strategic policies should be informed by a local housing need assessment, conducted using the standard method in national planning practice guidance. The standard method is a calculation informed by existing housing stock and affordability.

    Once local housing need has been assessed, as set out in this guidance, authorities should then make an assessment of the amount of new homes that can be provided in their area. This should be justified by evidence on land availability, constraints on development and any other relevant matters.

  • Who are the types of users who might benefit from having access to Affordability index data?

    LPAs, developers, planning consultants

  • What are some potential uses of Affordability index data?

    Having the data on the platform will allow for people to calculate a LPA's local housing need

  • What's the value of adding Affordability index data to the platform?

    Having the data on the platform will allow for people to calculate a LPA's local housing need

  • From what we have learnt so far are there any risks to making Affordability index data available?

0 updates

Last updated: 2025-04-24 09:51:30