Decline In Residential-Starts Holds Back Construction Industry Recovery

 Overall project-starts saw a steady slowdown in Q.2 and Q.3, after an initial surge in the first quarter and continued to fall in September, albeit at a slower rate, according to the September analysis from Glenigan. Further, the development pipeline remained robust throughout the year, particularly for some non-residential sectors, including industrial. Main contract awards have been increasing over the last eighteen months, ever since the first National Lockdown in March 2020 and detailing planning approvals remain consistently high. Read more on Specification Online.

https://specificationonline.co.uk/articles/2021-10-12/glenigan/strong-decline-in-residential-starts-holds-back-construction-industry-recovery

Affordable Housing Starts Fall By A Fifth, Homes England Data Shows

 In the year to 31 March 2021, the number of affordable homes started through Homes England programmes fell from 35,809 to 28,191 due to pressure placed on the housing industry by the coronavirus pandemic, the agency said. Total housing starts also fell by 22% from 47,965 to 37,330, while completions fell 13% from 40,452 to 34,995. The figures represent an improvement on the number of housing starts recorded half way through the year, which were down 38% compared with the year before. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/affordable-housing-starts-fall-by-a-fifth-homes-england-data-shows-71250

Housing Starts Continue Bounceback

 An estimated 127,580 starts were made in the 12 months to the end of December 2020, a 16% drop on the previous year, government figures show. This is the lowest number of starts since 2013. Completions were similarly hit, down 17% year-on-year to an estimated 148,630, according to the figures from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. This was the lowest figure since 2016. The government currently has a target to be building 300,000 new homes a year by the mid-2020s. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/housing-starts-continue-bounceback-after-covid-19-decimation-new-figures-reveal-70052

Homes England Statistics Show Overall Housing Starts Down

Housing programmes delivered by Homes England saw an overall decrease in starts and completions in the first half of 2020-21 compared to the same period last year, according to official statistics. There were 11,313 new houses started on site and 11,358 homes completed through programmes managed by Homes England between 1 April and 30 September 2020. Starts on site were down by 38 per cent and completions were down 25 per cent, compared with the same period last year. Read more on the GovUK website.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-homes-england-statistics-show-overall-housing-starts-down-reflecting-the-impact-of-covid-19-on-housebuilding

Number Of Affordable Home Starts In London Fell By 66% During Pandemic

The number of affordable homes started under programmes managed by the Greater London Authority (GLA) fell by 66% between April and September this year compared to 2019 figures. A total of 1,634 affordable homes were started in the capital in the first six months of 2020/21 as part of GLA-managed programmes, compared with 4,874 in the first six months of 2019/20. Of the 1,634 affordable homes started in the six months leading up to September, 782 (48%) were for shared ownership or London Living Rent, 727 (44%) were for social rent or London Affordable Rent and 125 (8%) were for another affordable rent tenure. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/number-of-affordable-homes-starts-in-london-fell-by-66-during-pandemic-68587?utm_source=Housing60&utm_medium=email&utm_content=article_link&utm_campaign=H60

Statistics Show Overall Housing Starts Up In 2019-20

Housing programmes delivered by Homes England saw an overall increase in starts and completions in 2019-20 compared to the previous year, according to official statistics. Last year there were 47,965 new houses started on site and 40,452 houses completed between 1 April 2019 and 31 March 2020. Three-quarters (75 percent) of starts were for affordable homes, with the proportion up from two-thirds (67 per cent) from the previous year. Read more on the Homes England website.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-homes-england-statistics-show-overall-housing-starts-up-in-2019-20-with-a-higher-proportion-of-affordable-homes

New Housing Starts To Fall By 60% This Year

The number of new housing starts will collapse by 60% this year in the wake of the covid-19 crisis, according to the latest forecast by the Construction Products Association (CPA). The organisation said that housebuilding will be the hardest hit of all the sectors of the construction industry, with output dropping by 42% in 2020 before a partial recovery in 2021. The forecast formed part of the body’s latest estimates for the construction industry overall, in which it said the industry will see its worst ever fall in output in 2020, of more than 25%, outpacing the decline experienced in the global financial crisis. Read more on the Housing Today website.

https://www.housingtoday.co.uk/news/new-housing-starts-to-fall-by-60-this-year/5106178.article

Affordable Starts Hit Ten-Year High

Best figures for the first half of a financial year for grant-funded schemes since 2009/10. Homes England and the Greater London Authority in the first half of the financial year together funded the highest number of affordable housing starts in a decade, according to government figures. The data show that the two bodies – who administer the affordable housing programme in England – funded 17,184 affordable housing starts between April and September, up nearly 50% on the figure for the first half of 2018/19. This is the highest figure recorded for an April-September period in the data series, which started in 2009/10. Read more on Housing Today.

https://www.housingtoday.co.uk/news/affordable-starts-hit-ten-year-high/5103083.article

Housing Starts And Completions Still Below Pre-Recession Levels

A briefing note for MPs prepared from government statistics shows that housing starts and completions have increased from the lows observed in late 2008 and early 2009 but remain below the levels they were at before the recession of a decade ago. Citing figures from the MHCLG, the briefing note prepared by the House of Commons library says there were 36,630 house building starts in England in the first quarter of this year - the most recent data available. This was a nine per cent decrease compared with the previous quarter, and also a nine per cent decrease compared with the same quarter of 2018. Read more on Letting Agent Today.

https://www.estateagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2019/8/housing-starts-and-completions-still-below-pre-recession-levels

Housebuilding Starts By Private Builders In London Fall 15 Per Cent

The number of new homes started by private housebuilders in London fell 15 per cent last year to the lowest level since 2013, figures reveal. Developers began building 23,130 homes in the capital in 2018, compared with 27,356 in 2017 and 33,774 in the recent peak year of 2015, according to data from analysts Molior London. The report says: “London has never recently been further away from building the number of homes it needs”, with a shortfall in 2016-17 of more than 24,500. Read more on the Homes & Property website.

https://www.homesandproperty.co.uk/property-news/massive-new-homes-slump-housebuilding-starts-by-private-builders-in-london-fall-15-per-cent-a127321.html

New Housing Starts Rise By 12%

The number of new homes started in the second quarter of 2017/18 was up 12% on the previous year, latest figures from the government have found. Quarterly new build dwellings data from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) shows that the number of homes started in the three months up to and including September had hit 44,740, a 12% increase from the 39,810 starts in the same period last year. The figures also represent a quarter-on-quarter rise, with the 44,740 starts 12% higher than the 39,980 housing starts recorded for the first quarter of 2018/19. Download the figures from the MHCLG website.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/house-building-new-build-dwellings-england-july-to-september-2018?utm_source=64f9b862-85dd-4f1b-bcc3-e50dfe9e8c37&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk-notifications&utm_content=immediate

Right To Buy Stats Reinforce A ‘Need To Suspend The Scheme’

CIH says latest MHCLG stats showing councils sold 2,417 homes under the Right to Buy scheme over the July-September quarter reinforce a need to suspend the scheme. The stats also show 1,160 homes started or acquired to replace those sold over the same period. The 2,417 is 22% down on the 3,115 sold in the same quarter of 2017-18, while councils received some £205m from the sales – 17% lower than the £247m in the same quarter of 2017-18. An MHCLG spokesperson said the stats showed councils have started work on 5,167 properties in the last year, which is up by 12 per cent on the year before. Read more on the CIH website.

http://www.cih.org/news-article/display/vpathDCR/templatedata/cih/news-article/data/CIH_calls_on_government_to_suspend_right_to_buy_as_new_figures_reveal_less_than_a_third_of_homes_sold_since_2012_have_been_replaced

New-Build Starts Down For Private Enterprise And Housing Associations

Seasonally adjusted new-build home starts were down 4% in the private enterprise tenure and decreased by 1% for housing associations, latest MHCLG stats show. Compared to a year ago, starts this quarter are down by 4% and 21% below their March quarter peak in 2007. Overall, starts are 126% above the trough in the March quarter of 2009. Starts by local authorities are shown as increased – but this sector is acknowledged as small and the figures “quite volatile”. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/new-build-starts-down-for-private-enterprise-and-housing-associations/

Housing Starts Down

Housing starts in England for the first quarter of 2018 were down 8% the same time last year and 3% on the previous three months. New housebuilding data from the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government show there were 39,350 starts in the three months to the end of March. There were 38,160 completions in the same period, down 4% on 2017 and 9% on the previous quarter. These statistics are based largely on data from warranty providers and are known to underestimate the true figure of housebuilding. Read more on the Gov UK website.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-house-building

Affordable Housing Disputes Are ‘Costing London Homes’

A new report on home building in London says the number of housing starts has “gone backwards” under Sadiq Khan – citing evidence that an increasing proportion of those homes that are being built end up in the hands of foreign buyers.  The report also features new research setting out the historic under-supply of homes in the UK across regions, and makes the economic and social case for home ownership. With the average first time buyer having to save for 10 years to put together a deposit and home ownership rates falling among the young, the report – Homes for Everyone –  sets out detailed proposals for how to push housebuilding up towards the Government’s target of 300,000 a year. Download the report from the Centre for Policy Studies website.

Labour Demolishes HCA Affordable Homes Stats

Report shows 13,549 housing starts on site and 11,867 housing completions delivered through HCA  programmes in England from April to September this year. Now Labour has demolished latest HCA stats showing a ‘rise’ in the number of affordable homes being built. Shadow secretary of state for housing, John Healey, says the stats in fact show a 98% fall in new social rented homes. Healey said: “These shocking new figures show that in the six months before the chancellor’s so-called ‘housing Budget’, the number of new government-funded homes for social rent fell by 98% compared to Labour’s last year in office.” Read more on 24housing.

Housing Association Development Starts Rise 13%

The number of new homes started by housing associations rose 13% to almost 48,000 in the last financial year, figures on the sector’s output reveal. Data released by the National Housing Federation (NHF) shows associations started 47,709 homes of all tenures and completed 38,082 in the year to April 2017. The NHF started surveying its members last year to gain a “complete picture” of the sector’s development output, due to “long-standing problems” with the official government figures. The figures are based on responses from 82% of developing housing associations. The number of completions dipped 5% in the year, representing the slowdown in development starts 18 months ago following the surprise four-year rent cut. Read the full briefing on the NHF website.

New Homes: Where Is The Supply Being Concentrated?

Since the seventies, housing starts and completions across England and Wales have been on a downward trajectory. The long run average over the last 50 years has been around 180,000 per annum, with the highest numbers being achieved at the start of this period and the lowest in the immediate aftermath of the global financial crisis of 2007/08. Over the last few years government initiatives, including the Starter Homes Fund, Housing Zones and Get Britain Building to name a few, have been launched to help stimulate the house building industry. This plus a recovery in the housing market has resulted in a pick-up of supply taking both starts and completions in line with each other at about 150,000 in 2015/16. Read more on Estate Agent Today.

Council Housing – Parliamentary Written Answer

Lord Beecham: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the reduction in council housing rents on new council housing and the existing stock.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: Our decision on social rent reductions was based on the need to put welfare spending on a sustainable footing, whilst protecting the most vulnerable. The housing benefit bill for the social sector in England rose by a quarter over ten years, reaching £13.2 billion in 2014/15. We believe that local authorities and private registered providers will be able to find and make efficiencies to accommodate the new rent settlement. The Government remains committed to delivering 400,000 affordable housing starts by 2021.

English Housing Completions Rise By Six Per Cent

The number of newly built homes in England has increased by six per cent in the past year, according to the latest figures published by the government. The latest house building data shows that 139,030 new homes were completed and more than 144,280 homes were started in the year to June 2016. Meanwhile, figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders show there are more first-time buyers than at any time since 2007, with 72,800 in England in the second quarter of 2016. According to the CLG the data showed strong regional growth in London, Swindon and Wakefield, which are all experiencing high levels of completions. Download the latest figures from the CLG website.