The numbers of new homes in England has risen by 10% over the past year – the highest percentage increase in 12 years, new figures show.
Housing Minister Brandon Lewis welcomed the news, which means the government has now delivered over half a million additional new homes since 2010.
It comes as the numbers of first-time buyers remain at their highest level since 2007, while new figures show the numbers of repossessions are now at their lowest since records began in 2008.
The vast majority of the new homes delivered over the past 12 months have been newly-built, and it means that since 2010 the government has delivered a net increase of over 530,000 new additional homes across England.
The government has introduced a range of measures to get the country building. These include:
- reforming the planning system, putting power back in the hands of residents through local and neighbourhood plans – meaning over the past 12 months planning permission was granted on 230,000 new homes
- investing £19.5 billion public and private funding in an affordable homes programme - since 2010 over 200,000 new affordable homes have been delivered
- introducing schemes like the Help to Buy, which have helped over 54,000 households onto the property ladder with a fraction of the deposit they would normally require, while at the same time leading housebuilders to build more homes in direct response to this increased demand.
But the government has also tackled the deficit it inherited, helping to keep interest rates at their record low and mortgages more affordable.
As a result, new figures published today by the Council of Mortgage Lenders show the number of repossessions at 5,000 for the third quarter of 2014 (July to September). Latest forecasts also anticipate repossessions falling in 2015 and 2016.
Housing Minister Brandon Lewis said: "I’m determined that we do all we can to get the country building and help hard-working people into home ownership.
"(These) figures show how our efforts are delivering real results, with the net supply of new homes up 10% over the past year and over half a million new homes delivered since 2010.
"But it’s also about helping people to buy and stay in their own homes – and by tackling the record deficit we inherited we’ve kept interest rates low, the numbers of new homeowners at their highest since 2007 and the numbers of repossessions at their lowest level since records began in 2008."
