September, 2017
The demand for housing continues to grow, as many have reported a shortage of supply for affordable housing in the UK. However, recent data from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has shown new builds are being started at the highest rate in 9 years.
According to the DCLG, a total of 164,960 new homes were started in the first 6 months of 2017, a 13% increase on the number just a year ago and the largest rolling annual since 2008. 41,180 of these new builds began in the 2nd quarter of 2017 which is a 10% increase on the same period last year.
In addition to this, just over 153,000 new homes have been completed between January and June of this year, an 11% increase when compared to figures from last year. While the number of new homes being built still hasn’t reached the level seen since before the financial crisis, they are still at their highest ever seen since the recession hit.
When looking at the regional data, it appears that Gloucestershire, South Derbyshire, and South Norfolk have shown the highest number of new home starts in 2017 and the areas of Croydon, Kent and Gloucestershire show the highest number of completions in the same period.
These figures should come as no surprise as in last year’s autumn statement, the government announced a £1.4 billion increase in the budget for the affordable housing programme, taking the total to budget to £7.1 billion.
Housing and Planning Minister, Alok Sharma, spoke on the statistics released from the DCLG , he said “Building more homes is an absolute priority for this Government. The figures are proof that we are getting Britain building again, with new housing starts reaching record levels since 2009
“It’s vital we maintain this momentum to deliver more quality homes in the places that people want to live. Our housing white paper set out an ambitious package of long term reforms to do just that,”
