Housebuilder Magazine

Housebuilder, styled housebuilder in its own branding, is the official magazine of the United Kingdom housebuilding industry, published in London by Housebuilder Media, part of the Home Builders Federation. Published since 1941, it is described by its publisher as the longest-established magazine for United Kingdom housebuilders and the industry's premier title. Appearing ten times a year, it is read by senior staff in housebuilding companies of every size, from the largest national developers to small regional builders, and it sits at the centre of a wider portfolio of conferences, research and awards that together shape how the industry talks to itself and to government.

Published since 1941

Few trade magazines can match Housebuilder's longevity. Housebuilder Media's own statements to its regulator confirm that the magazine was founded in 1941, in the middle of the Second World War, before the post-war housing boom, the modern planning system and most of the companies that now dominate volume housebuilding existed in their current form. Its editor's letter in a recent media portfolio calls the business built on the reputation, longevity and success of the magazine, launched in 1941, and stresses that it provides editorial on the ever-changing aspects of the industry. That continuity matters in a cyclical sector: Housebuilder has reported through housing booms, crashes, planning reforms and building safety crises, giving it an institutional memory its readers rely on.

Housebuilder Media, the HBF and the NHBC

Housebuilder Media describes the Home Builders Federation, the HBF, as its parent company and the voice of the housebuilding industry. The HBF is the trade federation whose members deliver a large majority of the new homes built in England and Wales each year, funded almost entirely by member subscriptions and engaged in continuous dialogue with government on housing policy. Housebuilder Media also works in unique partnership with the National House Building Council, the NHBC, the leading warranty and insurance provider and standards setter for new homes. That dual relationship gives the magazine unusual access: its circulation is drawn from the active registration lists of both the HBF and the NHBC, updated monthly, so copies go directly to named individuals at companies responsible, by the publisher's estimate, for approximately 85 per cent of United Kingdom new-build homes and regeneration projects.

Frequency, circulation and readership

Housebuilder is published ten times a year and is made available free of charge to members of the Home Builders Federation and the National House Building Council, both of which pay subscriptions for the service, while individuals can also buy subscriptions. Its independent ABC-certified circulation was 5,906 for July to December 2025 in the publisher's 2026 portfolio, compared with 9,938 in an earlier regulator statement and 13,197 for July 2016 to June 2017, a trajectory that mirrors consolidation and digital migration across trade publishing. The readership is deliberately senior: directors and managers at major developers named by the publisher, such as Barratt, Taylor Wimpey and Persimmon, through to the smallest housebuilders, in a market the publisher values at more than £50 billion a year.

What the magazine covers

The editorial brief is the whole business of building and selling new homes. Housebuilder's publisher lists its territory as market trends, economics, government initiatives, planning, technical issues, regulations and product innovation, delivered through expert columnists and an in-house editorial team. Regular features include analysis of the HBF's monthly survey of housebuilders, which tracks site visitors, net reservations and house price movements, and of NHBC registration and start figures, which provide the industry's standard measure of new housing starts. An annual fixture is the magazine's SWOT analysis, in which an expert panel assesses the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing the sector; the publisher's report of a recent edition noted panellists highlighting collapsing consumer confidence and viability pressures, a flavour of the candid tone the feature aims for.

Editorial leadership

Ben Roskrow, Housebuilder Media's managing editor, is named as the title's responsible person in its regulatory statements and fronts its media portfolios. In his published editor's letter he sets out the company's aim to be at the heart of everything the industry needs in terms of information, analysis, discussion and networking, arguing that at a time of great economic, political and housing change the business exists to provide the information and analysis the sector needs. The magazine also publishes a digital edition and e-newsletters, extending the print title's reporting to daily online coverage, so that policy announcements and market data that cannot wait for the next of the ten print issues still reach readers under the Housebuilder name.

Housing Market Intelligence

Beyond the magazine, Housebuilder Media runs the Housing Market Intelligence initiative, described in its portfolio as its flagship business event. Now in its twenty-fourth year, the HMI conference brings senior industry figures together for a day of strategic discussion, and the accompanying HMI Report, containing executive commentary, expert papers, analysis, data and contacts, is published on the day of the conference. Senior developers quoted by the publisher praise the report as an essential publication packed with information and data. For readers of the magazine, HMI represents the point at which Housebuilder's journalism becomes proprietary research: material gathered for the conference and report feeds back into the title's market coverage throughout the year.

The Housebuilder Awards

The Housebuilder Awards, supported by the HBF and the NHBC, are now in their twenty-second year and are described by their organiser as the industry's own awards, geared to reward innovation and excellence and to recognise those improving quality, design, efficiency and customer care in housebuilding. Entries are submitted in the spring, judged by a panel, and winners are announced in the autumn at a black-tie dinner. The magazine gives the awards extensive coverage, and winning a category has become a marketing asset that housebuilders display on developments and in advertising. For the publisher, the awards bind readers and advertisers into an annual cycle of entry, judging, celebration and reporting in which the magazine is the natural record.

Housebuilder Product Awards and the supply chain

Recognising that housebuilders depend on manufacturers and suppliers to meet regulatory and design requirements, Housebuilder Media introduced the Housebuilder Product Awards in 2013, following strong demand in the Product of the Year category at the main awards. The Product Awards reward suppliers that rise to the industry's challenges, and category winners go forward as finalists for Product of the Year at the main Housebuilder Awards. Recent coverage illustrates the range, from construction software named best business product to building products assessed by judges from bodies such as the Construction Products Association and the Future Homes Hub alongside the HBF, NHBC and leading housebuilders. The magazine's product coverage and these awards together make it a key route to market for companies selling into volume housebuilding.

Conferences and the industry calendar

Housebuilder Media's events programme extends well beyond HMI. Its published 2026 programme includes the HBF Future Talent Conference, the HBF Policy Conference, the HBF Planning Conference, the HBF Technical Conference, HBF regional and Welsh conferences and dinners, annual general meetings and social fixtures including the Housebuilder Brain Game charity quiz, an HBF golf day and a winter party. This calendar reflects the federation structure behind the magazine: planning, technical, skills, health and safety and sustainability are standing concerns of the HBF, with committees and regional meetings whose debates the magazine reports and whose conclusions it helps to circulate. For many readers, attending a Housebuilder Media event and reading the magazine are two parts of the same professional routine.

Why Housebuilder matters

Housing supply is one of the United Kingdom's most persistent policy problems, and governments repeatedly set targets that depend on the very companies Housebuilder serves. A magazine that reaches named decision-makers at firms building the overwhelming majority of new homes, that is owned by the industry's federation, that runs its flagship market intelligence conference and its best-known awards, occupies a position few trade titles can copy. Published ten times a year since 1941, free to HBF and NHBC members and supported by advertising and events, Housebuilder is less a magazine about housebuilding than part of the industry's operating system — the place where its market data, policy arguments, product innovations and celebrations of excellence are first gathered in one trusted, authoritative package.