Homes England Housebuilding Numbers Revealed

HOMES ENGLAND DELIVERED 14,289 houses completed and 13,229 new houses started on site between 1 April and 30 September 2021.

Homes England is the government body that buys and supplies land for housing and commercial development.

Both completions and starts were higher than in the same period last year, showing a pandemic recovery. The number of affordable homes started was 9,255 (70%), a decrease of 7% on the same period last year. Of the housing completions, 10,007 (70%) were for affordable homes.

Affordable Rent Halved

A total of 1,656 affordable homes started in the first half of 2021-22 were for Affordable Rent, a reduction of 50% on the 3,322 started in the same period last year.

There were 1,472 starts under schemes including Shared Ownership and Rent to Buy. There were 5,259 starts defined as ‘Affordable Tenure TBC’ homes, where the ultimate tenure category is not known until completion.

Social Rent Increase

There were 868 housing starts for Social Rent, an 80% increase on the 483 started in the first half of last year.

The number of affordable starts was the lowest since 2017-18 and can be attributed to the closure of bidding for the Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes Programme (SOAHP) 2016-21 in March 2021.

Of housing completions in the first half of 2021-22, 10,007 (70%) were for affordable homes. This is a 23% increase on the same period last year.

Of the affordable homes completed, 5,346 were for Affordable Rent and 3,506 under Intermediate Affordable Housing schemes. There were 1,155 Social Rent completions, up 62% on the first half of last year.

Peter Denton Homes England CEO

Peter Denton, Chief Executive at Homes England, said: “Despite the pressures still faced by the industry, it’s clear that our partners are working incredibly hard to build the new homes the country needs.

“As the new Affordable Homes Programme swings into action, we look forward to working with ambitious housebuilders of all shapes and sizes, to help them realise their development ambitions and support the Government’s housing objectives.”

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