A total of 179,170 homes of all tenures were completed through programmes run by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) during the 2011 to 2015 Spending Review period. 51,187 of those were delivered in the final year (2014 to 2015).
Government’s aspiration for affordable housing was to deliver up to 170,000 new affordable homes, from programmes set out in 2011, over the spending period to March 2015. The agency’s anticipated contribution to that total was 123,000. Collectively, these programmes delivered 134,526 homes, exceeding the target by over 11,000.
In addition, completions from new programmes introduced during the spending period take the overall number of affordable homes delivered by March 2015 to 149,291.
According to the HCA’s latest set of six-monthly housing statistics published today, of the 51,187 homes completed in 2014 to 2015, 41,312 or 81% were affordable, an increase of 50% on the previous year. The remainder, 9,875, were for sale on the open market, an increase of 45% on the year before.
During the year, there were a further 27,414 homes completed with the assistance of the Help to Buy equity loan programme, designed to help people, particularly first time buyers, into home ownership.
All of these programmes and homes help to drive overall housing supply, meeting a range of housing needs in local communities and contributing to local growth.
HCA Chief Executive, Andy Rose, said: "2014 to 2015 was a strong year of delivery for the agency. It was the final year of the 2011 to 2015 spending period, and I am pleased that we exceeded our completion forecasts across the range of our programmes which all help to support the housing ambitions of local places and communities. In doing so, we have exceeded our anticipated contribution to government’s aspiration of up to 170,000 new affordable homes.
"In addition, the number of open market homes built with the assistance of our land and recoverable investment programmes, along with Help to Buy delivery, have continued to gather pace, further contributing to overall housing supply.
"We look forward to working with the new government to help maintain the momentum in delivering new homes across all tenures, and ultimately, create successful places with homes and jobs."
A further 35,503 new homes were also started on site during 2014 to 2015, of which 26,498 or 75% of the total were affordable. As this was the final year of delivery of the spending period, this was in line with expectations, given the focus for delivery on completions. 5,764 of these starts were accelerated from new allocations under the 2015 to 2018 Affordable Homes Programme, and support delivery of a pipeline of completions over the coming spending period.
The statistics reported today present the housing starts on site and completions delivered by HCA programmes in 2014/15 in England, excluding London. There are 2 exceptions - the Get Britain Building and Build to Rent programmes, which the HCA administers on behalf of the Greater London Authority where the figures reported include delivery in London.
