Birmingham's council refuses 1 in 7 home projects, and HMO conversions run at three times the national rate. The city is making more of what it already has.
Birmingham City Council received 5,829 planning applications in 2025 and refused 15.2% of the 3,060 it decided, against a national refusal rate of 12.4%. The approval rate, at 84.8%, sits below the national 87.6%. Home extensions make up 45.5% of all applications, well above the national 29.1%, and HMO conversions are filed at three times the national rate. It is the planning profile of a dense city where adapting existing homes is the primary route.
The year in one line
Birmingham refuses planning applications more often than the national average, 1 in 7 against 1 in 8, while nearly half of everything submitted is a home extension and HMO conversions run at three times the national rate.
What Birmingham Is Building
Extensions dominate, HMOs and change of use stand out.
Home extensions were by far the most common application submitted to Birmingham City Council in 2025, at 45.5% of the total, against a national share of 29.1%. Dormers followed at 7.3% and change of use to residential at 4.3%. The category that sets Birmingham furthest apart is HMO conversions: 3.7% of applications, three times the national 1.2%. This is the application mix of a dense city where extending and subdividing existing homes is the dominant kind of work.
Applications submitted to Birmingham City Council in 2025, by project type.
The standout category
Birmingham files HMO conversions at 3.0 times the national rate and home extensions at 1.6 times. Both reflect a city making more of the housing stock it already has rather than building anew.
The council verdict
A harder yes than the national norm.
Of the 3,060 applications that received a decision, Birmingham City Council approved 84.8% and refused 15.2%, a refusal rate above the national 12.4%. The approval rate sits below the national 87.6%. About 1 in 7 applications was turned down.
About 1 in 7 Birmingham applications was turned down.
of decided applications were refused, a 15.2% refusal rate against a national rate of 12.4%. That is a tougher gate than the national average.
Birmingham vs The National Norm
A city extending what it already has.
Set Birmingham's application mix against the national average and several patterns stand out. Home extensions make up 45.5% of applications here, 1.6 times the national share. HMO conversions run at 3.0 times the norm and change of use to residential at 2.0 times. The category Birmingham does far less of is demolition: 2.5% of applications against a national 9.1%, more than three times rarer. Taken together, the picture is a city adapting its existing housing stock rather than clearing and rebuilding.
Demolition is more than three times rarer in Birmingham than nationally, 2.5% of applications against 9.1%. The work here is overwhelmingly about adding to homes, not removing them.
Each bar is Birmingham's share of applications; the marker is the national share. Demolition is the city's biggest gap below the norm.
Meanwhile, the market
Prices moved alongside the building work.
Permission may be harder to win here, but values kept climbing: Birmingham homes rose strongly over the year even as consent stayed tight.
Birmingham's planning data tells a clear story. Nearly half of all applications are home extensions, HMO conversions run at three times the national rate, and change of use to residential is filed twice as often as elsewhere. The council also says no more often than most, refusing about 1 in 7. For anyone buying or investing here, the constraint to plan around is winning consent, not finding space.
Where the numbers come from
Planning Data
Applications submitted to Birmingham City Council in 2025, classified from each application's published description. Shares are each category as a percentage of all applications in scope. Decision rates are computed over the analysed sample of 2025 applications.
Decision Rates
Approval rate is approvals as a share of approvals plus refusals, across 3,060 decided applications. The national benchmarks are computed the same way across all decided applications in England and Wales.
Sales Data
HM Land Registry Price Paid Data for the Birmingham post town, the latest full year's completions, with growth measured against the previous year.
The Real Applications
Open the planning applications behind the numbers.
These are real applications submitted in the Birmingham City Council area, from the extensions that dominate the mix to HMO conversions and change-of-use refusals. Open any one to see its full record.
109 Solihull Lane B28 9LY
A two-storey and single-storey rear extension, the most common project type in Birmingham, was approved with conditions.
See this property's full record81 Norton Crescent B9 5TB
Permission was granted with conditions for a two-storey side extension together with an outbuilding to the rear.
See this property's full record25 Blackwell Road, Barnt Green B45 8BT
A first-floor extension over the garage, a two-storey rear extension and a loft conversion were granted, the kind of stacked-up project Birmingham sees often.
See this property's full record1 South Street B17 0DB
A plan for a single-storey rear extension was turned down, one of the roughly 1 in 7 applications the council refused.
See this property's full record21 Westhay Road B28 9NN
A proposed rear outbuilding with a flat roof was refused, an example of the city's above-average refusal rate.
See this property's full record8 Orford Grove B21 0EW
A change of use from a house to an HMO was refused, the rental conversion Birmingham files most yet does not always wave through.
See this property's full recordCurious about a home in Birmingham?
UK Property Looker turns the UK's public property data into clear, free insight: sale history, energy ratings, planning activity and more for every address in England and Wales.