housing completions

Housing completions soar in England

House building in England is now at its highest level since 2008 following a significant rise in the volume of new homes being developed, new Government figures show. In the year to June, 131,060 residential properties were completed, a rise of 15 per cent on the same period a year ago. The latest quarterly house building statistics from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) show that between April and June, the number of completions rose by 22 per cent year-on-year. The Housing Minister, Brandon Lewis (right), welcomed the figures, but admitted there was more to do, vowing that the Government would “deliver 275,000 affordable homes by the end of this Parliament”. However, the number of new homes being started dropped by 1 per cent over the year, to 136,320, and by 6 per cent on a quarterly basis. The data was described as “encouraging” by Henry Gregg (left), the National Housing Federation’s(NHF) Assistant Director of Campaigns. But he also said that it was crucial that we as a nation continue to increase our efforts “to build the homes that are desperately needed”. He commented, “Last year alone we built less than half of the homes needed, pushing house…