The data shows that there were 29,510 new homes started between April and June this year, some 6% higher than the previous quarter, and a third higher than the same time last year.
Seasonally adjusted private enterprise completions increased by 11% and the increase was seen across the country, with 178 of the 326 councils in England reporting an increase in house building starts over the year.
Communities Minister Brandon Lewis said that the figures confirm that the housing market has turned a corner since the end of the unsustainable housing boom, with developers looking to build and aspiring homeowners looking to buy.
This has been boosted by the wide range of government measures including new housing supply at its highest level since 2008, with a total 334,000 new homes built in England over the past three years, over 150,000 new affordable homes built over the past three years thanks to the wide range of affordable housing programmes, including £19.5 billion of public and private investment over this Spending Review, and over £22 billion investment in the three years after that.
He also said that interest rates have been kept low thanks to government action to tackle the deficit inherited from the last administration and there have been over 10,000 reservations for newly built homes in just the first four months since the government launched its Help to Buy equity loan scheme.
The Funding for Lending scheme has increased the availability of competitively priced mortgages and all these efforts have led to the highest numbers of firs -time buyers and the lowest level of repossessions since 2007.
‘Under the last administration, house building fell to its lowest peacetime rate since the 1920s. But today’s figures clearly show government action is bringing confidence back into the housing market and getting Britain building again, with starts increasing by a third year on year,’ said Lewis.
‘We’ve already delivered over 330,000 new homes over the past three years, and 150,000 affordable homes. There is more to do, but today’s figures reinforce the momentum towards getting Britain building again,’ he added.
