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New home completions crash 56% to record low, EPC figures show
The number of new homes completed in England between April and June crashed by more than half as the COVID-19 lockdown brought the industry to a standstill, new energy performance figures reveal.
Figures released today on registrations for new Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) showed a 56% year-on-year drop in new homes registered in England, with just 29,296 registrations in England.
New EPC registrations are one of the earliest and most accurate datasets on new additions to the nation’s housing stock – taking in conversions and change of use as well as new builds.
Between April and June last year, 66,884 new properties received a certificate, meaning the shutdown has resulted in a fall of 37,558 new housing additions in England.
The figure is the lowest for quarter two in the government dataset which stretches back to 2008, and the second lowest for any quarter.
Weekly data, also published by the government, suggested a sharp recovery, with the most recent figures showing EPCs at 4,614 – up from a nadir of 806 in April and close to the pre-lockdown levels of 5,400.
However, David O’Leary, policy director at the Home Builders Federation, warned the recovery could be slow.
“This drastic fall in housing completions illustrates the enormous impact that the shutdown had on the industry and will continue to have on our housing numbers as social distancing on sites affects productivity," he told Inside Housing.
"In this final year of the current Help to Buy scheme and with what seemed like a period of political and economic stability ahead of us, we expected to see housing supply increases during 2020. The recovery from this will be slower and patchy because of the forthcoming Help to Buy price caps as midlands and northern regions will likely see fewer new homes built on an ongoing basis.”
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Equivalent figures for Wales showed a similar fall – with new registrations dropping by more than 50% to 1,098, also the lowest quarterly figure recorded.
While construction sites were allowed to remain open during the coronavirus lockdown, many residential builders shut their sites because of fears for the safety of construction workers.
The monthly stats are prefaced by a warning that the lockdown “impacted on the number of EPC assessments carried out and lodged during this quarter”.
The publication adds: “EPC lodgements for both new and existing dwellings have started to recover, though EPCs for new dwellings are recovering at a slower rate due to the reduction in construction workers returning to work.”
The North East was the English region where new build work was most severely affected, with a 72% drop. London was the least hit, but still saw completions fall by almost 50% from 11,558 to 6,007.
Update: at 1.20pm, 30.07.2020
This story was updated to include a reference to weekly statistics