Steep fall in new home starts
According to figures from the National Housing Federation (NHF) fewer than 460,000 homes were built between 2011 and 2014, the government expects to build 1m new homes by the end of this parliament, this is in response to the urgent need for housing, Brandon Lewis Housing Minister reportedly told the BBC’s Inside Out programme the government had projected a target of 1m new homes in the next 5 years.
It is very well to give out these targets, however figures released last month showed that new homes being started in England fell at its steepest rate for three years for the last quarter, housing starts saw a 14% decline to 33,280 from April to June, starts were 6% lower year on year according to the government’s own seasonally adjusted data.
Gill Payne, Director of policy and external affairs for the NHF reportedly said: “We haven’t built enough homes in this country for decades, and if the gap between the number of households forming and the number of new homes being built continues to grow, we are in danger of not being able to house our children.”