13,220 fewer net additional dwellings in 2023/24 compared to previous year, official figures show

Housing supply has fallen 6% year-on-year, according to official statistics.

The figures from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government show there were 221,070 net additional dwellings in 2023/24, down from 234,290 the previous year.

The figure is the lowest since 2015/16, if the pandemic impacted 2020/21 is excluded.

new build

The number of new build homes fell below 200,000 last year, official figures show

Net additional dwellings includes new build, changes of use and conversions minus demolitions.

Newly-built homes fell by 7%, from 212,360 to 198,610.

The new Labour government has a target of building 1.5 million homes over the next five years.

Richard Cook, senior economics director at consultancy , said: 鈥淭oday鈥檚 figures are a fresh reminder of the stark challenge facing the Labour government.

鈥淭he number of net additional dwellings is almost a third below the government鈥檚 target of delivering 300,000 homes every year, and if you look back over the past five years the story is much the same.鈥�

Cook added that the government鈥檚 new National Planning Policy Framework, will not be enough to bridge the gap between current supply figures and Keir Starmer鈥檚 target.

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He said: 鈥淭he industry will need wider support and incentives to get building.鈥�

MHCLG also last week published figures showing there were 62,290 homes built for affordable tenures in 2023/24. This was down 2% year-on-year but was the second highest increase since 2015.

Decreased affordable rent completions of 4,300 homes across 2022/23 and 2023/24 were matched by a 4,000 increase in homes for social rent over the two years.

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