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Homes England housing starts hit highest level for nine years
Homes England funded more housing starts in 2018/19 than it has for nine years, statistics released today show.
A total of 45,692 homes were started through programmes managed by the government housing agency between April 2018 and March 2019, the most since 2009/10 when there were 47,501.
Of these, 30,563 (67%) were for tenures classed as affordable, a 10% increase on the previous year and the most since 2013/14.
However, Homes England-funded social rent starts fell 12% to 1,231.
Meanwhile, affordable homeownership schemes including shared ownership and Rent to Buy funded 11,560 homes – a 24% increase.
Affordable rent-funded starts continued to make up more than half of the affordable total, at 17,772.
In January 2018, the Homes and Communities Agency was divided into Homes England and the Regulator of Social Housing.
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Housing completions funded by the agency hit their highest level for four years in 2018/19 at 40,289, with 28,710 (71%) affordable, an 11% rise on 2017/18.
The number of homes completed under affordable homeownership schemes surged 75% to 8,854.
Housing minister Kit Malthouse said: “It’s great to see our housing accelerator has their foot firmly on the gas with nearly 29,000 new affordable homes finished last year.
“Getting these properties built is all part of our cast-iron commitment to making sure everyone has the opportunity to realise the dream of a stable home.
“But there is more to do, and so this government is providing serious support, including £44bn of funding and guarantees, to build more, better, faster.”
Nick Walkley, chief executive of Homes England, said: “At a time where the average house costs around eight times the average income, these are positive signs that the delivery of homes, and particularly affordable homes, is on the up.
“However, there is still a huge amount of work to do to make sure this trend continues. We’re just getting started and need the sector to join us in our mission to make sure we continue to deliver homes across the country for the people who need them the most.”
The figures capture government funding programmes run by Homes England, including the Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes Programme 2016/2021, the Single Land Programme and the Home Building Fund – Short Term Fund among others, but are not exhaustive housebuilding statistics.
They do not include figures on Help to Buy, which are reported by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
Most housing funding in London has been under the control of the Greater London Authority (GLA) since 2012/13.
Last month, figures released by the GLA indicated that it funded 14,544 affordable homes starts in 2018/19.
