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Official new build stats show dip as Malthouse admits ‘loads more to do’
New home starts are continuing to fall with a slide of 4% in the past quarter, the latest official government figures have revealed.
Work on a total of 38,730 new houses across all tenures began in the three months to June, data from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) showed today.
This represents a 4% fall on a year-on-year basis and is down 21% on a peak in early 2007.
These figures are widely distrusted by the industry – for undercounting overall starts and discounting many homes developed by housing associations.
Housing associations also saw a slight drop in starts in the latest quarter, down 1% to 5,510, compared to the previous three months.
It comes after National Housing Federation figures yesterday showed a 5.5% drop in starts for the sector year on year.
Across all tenures, completions rose 7% to 40,550 in the quarter compared to the previous three months, the MHCLG figures showed. On a year-on-year basis this figure was 1% higher.
Housing associations saw completions rebound, up 8% in the latest quarter to 6,830. In the previous quarter completions had slipped 10% compared to the October-December period.
The government is aiming to deliver an average of 300,000 new homes a year by the mid-2020s.
In a tweet today, new housing minister Kit Malthouse highlighted that 1.1 million new homes have been built since 2010 but admitted there is “loads more to do”.
