Figures released by the Department for Communities and Local Government showed 117,110 housing projects starting during the 12 months to September 2013, a rise of 16% on the year before.
This growth was split evenly between private enterprise starts and housing association starts. However, this figure is still 36% below the record high for housing starts in the year March 2006 and well behind the 250,000 target needed to meet population increases.
The government department reported housing completions in the last year were down by 8% to 107,950. This slump was largely down to a 21% fall in completions by housing associations across the year.
Housing developments were particularly strong along the M5 corridor from Devon to Worcestershire as well as in the home counties of Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.
Building starts were weakest in the areas between Birmingham and Manchester with other northern areas such as Cumbria, South Yorkshire and Lancashire proving more popular. The DCLG reported 211 of the UK’s 326 authorities have seen an increase in housing starts during the last 12 months.
Cambridge and Gateshead were highlighted as the two locations which had seen a boom in housing completions with the report also adding London, areas of south Lancashire, Dorset and West Sussex has seen a rise in this period.
Shelter’s chief executive Campbell Robb said the figures showed further action was needed from government on house building, describing Help to Buy as a ‘backwards step’.
“We’re building less than half of the 250,000 homes needed each year just to keep up with demand, and the small increase in house building starts is no way near enough to get close to this total,” he said.
“Worryingly the number of affordable homes built has fallen significantly, spelling disaster for the thousands of families we see every day who are struggling to cope with soaring housing costs.
“In a property market that’s already heating-up with pent-up demand, Help to Buy is a backward step. If the government is really committed to rolling up its sleeves and getting more homes built, there are plenty of more straightforward ways to do it than relying on state mortgage guarantees to fuel debt.”
