Banks Homes, the housebuilding arm of Meadowfield-based Banks Group, wants to build at least 400 homes a year by 2031, up from just over 100 this year.

Managing director Russ Hall's plan doubles annual output to around 200 homes by the end of 2027, then doubles it again over the following four years.

Banks Homes has six live planning applications covering more than 550 homes across the North East and Yorkshire, with sites already under way at West Rainton, Yarm, Wynyard and Hambleton, and a further site won recently through a competitive Homes England tender for 52 homes at Cottingwood near Morpeth.

The combined Banks Property and Banks Homes team has grown by around 20 people over the past year, to 70, with an apprenticeship programme launched alongside the expansion.

The target would give Banks Homes a substantially larger presence across County Durham, Teesside and North Yorkshire.

The expansion comes against a more difficult backdrop for Britain's housebuilding industry. UK-listed housebuilders issued eight profit warnings in the first half of 2026, according to EY-Parthenon, matching the number recorded in the same period of 2008. Weaker consumer confidence, elevated build costs and fading expectations of further interest rate cuts were the main factors cited, affecting firms including Vistry, Crest Nicholson, Taylor Wimpey, Bellway and Berkeley Group.

The company's accounts show how the expansion is being financed. Banks Homes recorded its first year of turnover, £15.5m, in the year to September 2025, its first completions having landed at Symeon Court and Cathedral Meadows in Durham. Gross profit was £1.6m, with a loss for the year of £814,000, narrower than the £1.1m loss the year before, as the business expands its capacity ahead of higher volumes.

The business is being funded by the wider Banks Group as it builds its land pipeline. At September 2025, Banks Homes owed £47m to other Banks Group companies, up from £21m the year before, with the loans unsecured and interest-free. Stock, meaning land and work in progress, more than doubled over the year to £45.8m, reflecting the land being assembled to support the growth targets.

The near-term test is the step to 200 homes a year by 2027. That means converting the 550 homes currently in planning into approvals and site starts over the next eighteen months.