New figures show industry on track to deliver Government’s ‘one million homes’ pledge Housing delivery up 52% in past three years
New Government figures released today show that nearly 200k homes were added to the housing stock in the last financial year – confirming that the Government’s plan to deliver one million homes in this parliament is on track. The numbers, generally accepted as the most accurate barometer of housing supply, clearly demonstrate that the house building industry is responding to Government policies aimed at stimulating supply. They show there has been a 52% increase in housing supply over the past three years.
The new figures show:
Overall housing supply April 15 - April 16 ( general election was May 15) was 200,070 up 10%;Once demolitions are taken off there were 189,650 net additions to the housing stock, up 11%163,940 new build homes were built, up 6% (38% in past 3 years)Due to planning reform housebuilders increased office to resi conversions to 12,824
To achieve the Government’s ‘one million homes in this parliament’ target output needs to average 200k homes a year. The new figures, that effectively cover the first year of the parliament, show that recent increases in housing delivery have been sustained and built on, with all indicators suggesting that further increases will occur.
Whilst the time taken to get a planning permission to the stage where builders can actually build has lengthened (NLP report last week stated it takes on average over 6 years for a large site to receive a full consent but still subject to planning conditions) the fact that planning permissions are now running at C275k a year provides a strong forward indicator of future supply. Planning permissions are generally built out over the next three to five years (depending on size of site and advanced infrastructure requirements etc) and output now broadly matches the volume of permissions granted in 2012/13.
The Government’s Help to Buy scheme has now delivered almost 100k sales; we are continuing to work with Government to speed up the rate at which the increased number of planning permissions being granted are processed to the point they can be built; HBF is working with Government on further policies aimed at assisting SME builders that will see more builders building and adding to the total supply.
Over the past few years the industry has recruited and trained tens of thousands of new people required to build more new homes, whilst the supply chain has grown rapidly to provide more of the materials the industry needs. With output increasing as more desperately needed new homes are built, the industry is providing a huge economic boost to UKPLC.
Speaking today, Stewart Baseley, executive chairman of the Home Builders Federation said; “These figures provide the best evidence to date as to how much house builders have ramped up housing supply. The Government’s ambitious target to build one million homes over the course of this parliament is now within reach.
“In response to the positive measures introduced by Government in recent years, such as Help to Buy, huge increases in output have been delivered. Providing Government continues to create an environment within which the industry can operate and grow house builders will continue to increase delivery of new homes.
“The industry is committed to delivering the high quality new homes the country needs to address our housing crisis. As we build desperately needed new homes the industry is creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs directly and in the supply chain boosting local economies across the country.
“Moving forward, the house building industry will play a key role in building a new Britain and driving our post Brexit economy.”
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For media enquiries, or to arrange an interview, please contact Steve Turner on 020 7960 1606 or 07919 307760. Steve.turner@hbf.co.uk
Notes to editors
The Home Builders Federation (HBF) is the representative body of the home building industry in England and Wales. The HBF’s member firms account for some 80% of all new homes built in England and Wales in any one year, and include companies of all sizes, ranging from multi-national, household names through regionally based businesses to small local companies: www.hbf.co.ukThe ‘Net Supply of Housing ‘data series, which is only published once a year, is drawn from more reliable sources more closely linked to the numbers Local Authorities use for determining their Council Tax that the quarterly ‘House Building’ statistics . The HBF’s Ghost towns report shows how flawed methodology and poor returns from Local Authorities mean around 30,000 new builds are not counted in those official numbers.