Back in April 2016, permitted development rights (PDR) for office to residential conversions were made permanent, having been introduced on a temporary basis three years earlier.

Lauded as a key tool for addressing the housing shortage, the numbers indeed show how popular the policy has been. During 2016-17, the first year of the PDR becoming permanent, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) figures show that almost 18,000 homes were delivered from the conversion of offices into residences, 6,000 of them in London. Close to 103,000 new homes came via change-of-use over the period between 2015 and 2023, more than 85% of them from converting offices, and more than a fifth in the capital.

But 10 years on, some are questioning if the PDR bubble has burst. The most recent MCHLG statistics show that, during 2024-25, office-to-residential conversions in England accounted for 5,154 net additional dwellings. This is a decrease from 6,695 the previous year (a 23% drop) and a huge 70% fall from the 2016-17 peak. However, given the viability difficulties facing the residential sector, should we be taking greater advantage of the opportunity PDR presents?