‘The number of new houses being built in England has risen 31% in the last year, according to new figures from the Department of Communities and Local Government.
In the year to the end of March 2014, work began on 133,650 new homes, the rise driven by the Help to Buy scheme, according to the Government. However, the number of completions rose just 4% in the same time frame.
Stewart Baseley, executive chairman of the Home Builders Federation, said Help to Buy had allowed the industry “to plan ahead, rebuild capacity lost in the downturn and deliver the homes the country needs”; however, Campbell Robb, head of homeless charity Shelter, called the scheme “a sticking plaster solution”, emphasising that “we are still building less than half the homes we need”. The data also showed 5,390 homes were completed in the capital in the first three months of 2014, up by 27% from 4,250 in the last quarter of 2013.’
Sources: BBC News, Financial Times, The Independent, Daily Mail, The Sun, Evening Standard