New homes build Britain's recovery
The latest statistics reveal that the last 3 months have seen the fastest rate of housebuilding since 2008.
New figures show that government action is getting Britain building again, Housing Minister Kris Hopkins confirmed today (21 November 2013).
The latest statistics reveal that the last 3 months have seen the fastest rate of housebuilding since the crash in 2008, and government schemes are helping tens of thousands of hardworking families get onto the housing ladder.
Mr Hopkins said the housing market inherited in 2010 was a “smoking ruin”, but the right policies, including prioritising limited financial resources, are returning it to health. He said today’s figures were the latest evidence that solid progress is being made across the housing market as a whole, including:
- faster housebuilding – housing starts over the last 12 months increased by 16% compared with the year before, rising from 101,280 to 117,110, and the 32,230 homes started between July and September this year represent the fastest rate of housebuilding since 2008.
- building new homes to match demand – over 18,000 reservations have now been made through Help to Buy: Equity Loan.Every reservation means a new build home is being sold, and housebuilders are using this momentum to build more homes. At the same time 2,000 households received offers through Help to Buy: Mortgage Guarantee in the first month alone.
- helping hard working people onto the housing ladder – since 2011, the government has been helping almost 50,000 hardworking households onto the housing ladder: over 36,000 through Help to Buy and earlier schemes, and over 13,400 social tenants through the Right to Buy. The Council of Mortgage Lenders confirmed this week that the number of new mortgages is now at the highest level since 2008
- more affordable housing – 98,700 affordable homes have been delivered through the affordable homes programme since it started in 2011, which is more than half way towards delivering 170,000 new affordable homes by 2015.
Progress across the country
The minister said he was reassured improvements across the housing market are delivering progress across the whole country, for example:
- the highest number of Help to Buy sales were in Leeds, Wiltshire, Milton Keynes and Reading, while the highest number of Right to Buy sales were in Birmingham, Leeds, Sandwell and Sheffield
- some of the biggest increases in housebuilding were in Hammersmith and Fulham, Southampton, Cambridge and East Devon
- construction of new affordable homes across London has risen 7-fold compared to the same period last year, while Cornwall, Wiltshire, Lewisham and Hackney delivered the most affordable homes in 2012-13
Housing Minister Kris Hopkins said:
This government inherited the biggest budget deficit in our peacetime history and house building rates that had crashed to their lowest levels since the 1920s.
We’ve taken the tough decisions to tackle the deficit, keeping interest rates and repossessions down, and introduced a series of initiatives to help build more affordable homes and give hard-working people a helping hand up the housing ladder.
Today’s figures show we’re building at the fastest rate since the crash in 2008, more people are securing a place on the housing ladder, and we’re delivering tens of thousands of affordable homes across the whole country.
But there’s still more to do, and improving the housing market will remain a top priority. That means getting builders back on site, delivering new housing, more jobs and ensuring every hard working family has a place they can call home.
Further information
Helping hardworking families
- since 2011, the government has been helping almost 50,000 hardworking households onto the housing ladder. Over 36,000 through Help to Buy and earlier schemes, and over 13,400 social tenants through the Right to Buy
- 98,700 households are benefiting from new affordable homes delivered through the current affordable homes programme, and this will rise to 170,000 by 2015
Help to Buy
- 18,050 reservations have now been made in the first 7 months of Help to Buy: Equity Loan
- every reservation means a new build home is being sold, and housebuilders are using this momentum to build more homes, including Taylor Wimpey who revealed this week they have fully sold their completions for 2013
- in the first 6 months of the scheme 5,375 sales have been completed
- the average price of the properties sold under the scheme in the first 6 months was £197,167, compared with the average house price in the UK of £247,000 in August 2013
- the majority of completed sales were to first time buyers, representing 92% of total sales
- 71% of sales were made with a 5% deposit
- over 900 house builders have registered for the scheme, 94% of which are small and medium house builders
- over 2,000 offers were made through the Help to Buy: Mortgage Guarantee in the first month of the scheme, which began in October 2013
Right to Buy
- between July and September this year councils sold an estimated 2,839 homes under the Right to Buy scheme. This is nearly 3 times the 1,041 sold in the same quarter last year. Councils in London accounted for 25% of sales
- total Right to Buy sales since April 2012, including those by housing associations, are now over 13,400
- since April 2012 councils have received approximately £219 million from additional Right to Buy sales, and the number of replacement homes either under construction or acquired since April 2012 is over 1,600
Building more homes
- between July and September this year construction on new homes increased by 8% compared with the previous quarter, from 29,880 to 32,230, while housing completions increased by 5% from 27,380 to 28,850
- construction on new homes for the 12 months ending September 2013 increased by 16% compared with the previous 12 months from 101,280 to 117,110
- almost 360,000 new homes have been built since July 2010
Affordable housing
- between April and September 2013 there were 12,988 affordable starts on site through programmes managed by the Homes and Communities Agency and Greater London Authority, more than triple the 3,722 started in April to September 2012. Almost a quarter of these starts were in London
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