Housing starts up 23% last year

Last year, 122,590 new homes were started. In the three quarters since April, private starts rose by 29% compared to the equivalent period in 2012.

The Home Builders Federation said that the figures showed a returning confidence to the housebuilding industry, fuelled by the launch of the Help to Buy equity loan scheme last Spring.

Stewart Baseley, HBF's executive chairman, said:

“It is now clear, after a number of difficult years that saw housing supply levels drop to a record low, that housebuilding is now increasing significantly."

“Help to Buy is increasing demand for new homes and the industry is responding. People’s inability to buy in recent years has been the biggest constraint on the industry’s efforts to build more homes.”

During the year, housebuilders have increased their build rates and upped recruitment levels. Persimmon’s ceo Jeff Fairburn commented that the company had increased its investment in land and construction with the aim to open 170 new sites this year which would “create many new jobs”.

Mark Clare, Barratt’s CEO, said:

“In the last six months we’ve increased our completions by 19% compared with the same period the year before. We are targeting the construction of 16,000 homes in 2016.”

Taylor Wimpey’s ceo Pete Redfern said that the housebuilder was building more homes on its already open sites and “investing in future sites and infrastructure which creates more jobs and economic activity”.

And Strata Homes’ ceo Jim Wren commented that the firm had seen a “significant” upturn in sales numbers:

“We are confident of this increased demand continuing and have accelerated our build rates accordingly.”