Variety of new houses in England plummets to near-decade low regardless of Labour pledge for housebuilding revolution

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Your assist makes all of the distinction. Learn extra The variety of new houses in England has fallen to its lowest degree for practically a decade, in a blow to Labour’s hopes of assembly considered one of its key manifesto pledges.

Keir Starmer has promised to construct 1.5million new houses in 5 years, a median of 300,000 houses per 12 months, however official figures present simply 208,600 had been created in England in 2024/25, down 6 per cent from 221,409 the earlier 12 months.

The variety of further new houses is the bottom for a monetary 12 months since 2015/16, when the determine was 195,534.

Housing secretary Steve Reed stated the statistics confirmed “the extent of the housing disaster” Labour inherited, however the Tories stated the figures confirmed Labour “haven't any plan for delivering new houses”, including that numbers had fallen to a degree “beneath what the Conservatives achieved throughout a worldwide pandemic”.

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Labour has pledged to construct 1.5 million houses by the subsequent election, however might want to enhance the tempo of constructing whether it is to fulfill its goal (Gareth Fuller/PA) (PA Wire) Mr Reed stated Labour had taken over “a planning system that blocked somewhat than constructed, and excessive inflation and hovering building prices that created an ideal storm holding again housebuilding”.

He insisted the 1.5 million houses goal was “not only a quantity – it’s a strategy to give kids a safe dwelling, for younger individuals lastly to maneuver out and revel in independence, and for working households to have place to name their very own”.

However Sir James Cleverly, the shadow housing secretary, stated: “The Labour authorities’s file on housing is abysmal. Their very own statistics are a damning indictment of their failed housing coverage. New builds are right down to a degree beneath what the Conservatives achieved throughout a worldwide pandemic.

“Labour’s much-trumpeted goal of 1.5 million houses is useless within the water. Clearly, they haven't any plan for delivering new houses. A lot for ‘construct, child, construct.’”

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There have been 190,602 new builds, 17,708 properties that noticed a change of use from non-domestic to residential, plus 3,846 conversions between homes and flats, in response to information printed by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Native Authorities (MHCLG).

An additional 1,076 different sorts of houses had been added, equivalent to caravans and home boats, whereas there have been 4,632 demolitions.

The variety of new houses equipped in England – outlined as “web further dwellings” – is predicated on native authority estimates of good points and losses.

The federal government has pledged to ship 1.5 million new houses in England over the course of this parliament, which is because of final till summer season 2029.

Separate figures printed by the MHCLG alongside the annual information counsel 124,800 new houses have been delivered in England to this point this monetary 12 months (from April 1 to November 9), whereas 275,600 have been delivered because the begin of the present parliament on July 9 2024.