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New Government
show that 217,350 homes were added to the housing stock in England in the
last financial year confirming the industry is well on track to smash the
‘one million homes’ target set by Government – helping address the country’s
housing crisis and providing an economic boost to UKPLC.
The house building
industry has now delivered a 74% increase in supply in the past four years;
and with the number of planning permissions granted, a strong indicator of
future build levels, at the highest rate on record, increases look set to
continue.
The figures
demonstrate that the industry is responding to Government policies aimed at
stimulating supply.
The new figures
show:
- Total housing supply April
16 - March 17 was 227,170 up 14%;
- Once demolitions are taken
off there were 217,350 net additions to the housing stock, up 15% on
last year and up 74% in four years
- 183,570 new build homes
were built, up 12% on last year and up 55% in past four years
- Due to planning reform
housebuilders increased he number of conversions and changes of use
completed to 17,751.
The figures mean
that by the end of March 2017, there were 577,690 more homes in England than
there were three years ago.
The industry is
now calling on Government to use next week’s Budget to deliver further
improvements to the policy environment to allow the industry to sustain this
fastest rate of growth on record.
The industry is
calling on Government to:
- Provide certainty on the
future of Help to Buy post 2021. The scheme has been absolutely key to
the big increases in supply today’s figures confirm
- Remove barriers for SMEs,
start-ups and specialist retirement builders so they can play their part
in building more homes
- Push forward proposals in
the White Paper to improve the planning system and reduce delays that
can add years to when builders can get on and build granted permissions
Stewart Baseley,
executive chairman of the Home Builders Federation said: “The housing crisis
built up over several decades and will take many years to fix.
"(These)
statistics illustrate the huge progress being made, and the rapid rate at
which builders have responded to positive measures from Government to deliver
more and more new homes. It is no coincidence that since reform of the
planning system in 2012 and the introduction of the phenomenally successful
Help to Buy scheme in 2013, housing supply has increase by a massive 74%.
“The industry is
committed to even greater levels of investment to deliver the high quality
new homes the country needs to address our housing crisis. As well as
delivering much needed homes the industry is also creating hundreds of
thousands of new jobs boosting local economies across the country.
“The challenge now
is to expand the number of housing suppliers delivering new homes. Government
needs to help create the conditions for more specialist developers and
smaller firms to invest and grow their output while continuing with the
positive environment that has seen larger developers drive increases in
supply. Moving forward, the house building industry will play a key role in
building a new Britain and driving our post-Brexit economy.”
As well as
providing desperately needed new homes, the new figures also reveal the
economic boost the industry is giving UKPLC. Every home built supports
an estimated 4.3 jobs, and provides investment in infrastructure and social
amenities – benefitting local economies across the country.
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