Housing Minister Kris Hopkins said that the figures show that government action is getting Britain building again and with solid progress being made across the housing market as a whole.
The figures shows that between July and September of this year construction on new homes increased by 8% compared with the previous quarter, from 29,880 to 32,230, while housing completions increased by 5% from 27,380 to 28,850.
Housing starts over the last 12 months increased by 16% compared with the year before, rising from 101,280 to 117,110, and the 32,230 homes started between July and September and almost 360,000 new homes have been built since July 2010.
Hopkins also revealed that 98,700 affordable homes have been delivered through the affordable homes programme since it started in 2011, which is more than half way towards delivering 170,000 new affordable homes by 2015.
The minister said he was reassured improvements across the housing market are delivering progress across the whole country. ‘This government inherited the biggest budget deficit in our peacetime history and house building rates that had crashed to their lowest levels since the 1920s. We’ve taken the tough decisions to tackle the deficit, keeping interest rates and repossessions down, and introduced a series of initiatives to help build more affordable homes and give hard working people a helping hand up the housing ladder,’ explained Hopkins.
‘Today’s figures show we’re building at the fastest rate since the crash in 2008, more people are securing a place on the housing ladder, and we’re delivering tens of thousands of affordable homes across the whole country. But there’s still more to do, and improving the housing market will remain a top priority. That means getting builders back on site, delivering new housing, more jobs and ensuring every hard working family has a place they can call home,’ he added.
As a result of the improved outlook for the construction industry builders are building out existing sites more quickly and looking to start on new sites sooner, according to Stewart Baseley, executive chairman of the Home Builders Federation.
‘Help to Buy is increasing demand for new homes and the industry is responding. People’s inability to buy in recent years has been the biggest constraint on the industry’s efforts to build more homes. If people can buy, builders will build. Help to Buy is allowing people who can afford to buy a home to do so, meaning builders can get on with building the homes the country needs,’ he explained.
‘As a result of this increase in activity, the industry is recruiting significant amounts of people. The supply chain is also gearing up to meet the increased level of demand, generating an economic boost the length and breadth of the country,’ he added.
The Equity Loan element of Help to Buy is already having a meaningful impact on the housing market, by addressing the issues of restricted mortgage availability and large deposits that were preventing many potential home owners from buying a home of their own, according to Jeff Fairburn, chief executive of Persimmon.
‘To increase volume to meet this increased demand, we are stepping up our investment in land and construction, opening 85 new sites before the end of the year and developing on all sites where we have implementable planning consents, creating many new jobs in the process,’ he pointed out.
Pete Redfern, chief executive of Taylor Wimpey said the firm is building more homes on the sites it already has open and the boost gives the construction firm more confidence about investing in future sites and infrastructure which creates more jobs and economic activity locally.
Mark Clare, chief executive of Barratt, said that customer interest in the Help to Buy scheme has been very strong. ‘It has successfully addressed the issue of lack mortgage finance at higher loan to values. Interest has been particularly encouraging from customers previously locked out of the market by high deposit requirements,’ he pointed out.
‘If we can sell homes more quickly we can build more quickly and we are rapidly increasing production. We now have the confidence to target the construction of 45,000 homes over the next three years and we are investing in land and bringing it through planning to meet increased demand. We are also expanding the business by taking on 600 new apprentices and graduates to tackle the skills shortage that could constrain future growth,’ he added.
Strata Homes has reported a significant upturn in sales numbers as a result of increased customer confidence, improved lending arrangements and particularly the introduction of the government backed Help to Buy Equity Loan Scheme.
‘We are confident of this increased demand continuing and have accelerated our build rates accordingly,’ said Jim Wren, chief executive of Strata Homes.
