Homes England recently published its official housing statistics showing the figures behind the building projects the organisation has managed during the first six months of the 2018-19 financial year.
Projects managed by Homes England finished 15,704 homes and started building 15,766 houses on site from 1 April to 30 September.
Homes England is paving the way for affordable new builds
The number of new houses built in partnership with Homes England is up by 31% from the first half of 2017-18. Additionally, the number of homes that have started to be built has increased by 15%.
Affordable homes, which is a big part of Homes England’s five-year plan for the housing market, make up 63% of the housing starts and 71% of houses completed. These statistics reveal positive progress towards combating the country’s chronic housing shortage.
Nick Walkley, chief executive of Homes England, stated:
“These latest figures show the overall number of homes being built continues to rise, reflecting the hard work being carried out by the housing industry to build better homes faster.
“However, while they are encouraging to see, we cannot be complacent. We know there is more work to be done to meet the Government’s ambition to deliver 300,000 new homes a year, so we will continue to intervene in the housing market and use our land, powers and influence to make homes happen.”
Recent figures even show the number of new build homes in the UK are at its highest for over a decade, so even though there is still a long way to go to hit the Government’s housing goals, the housing sector is certainly taking positive strides in the right direction.
Are modular homes the way forward to help the housing shortage?
According to a recent Guardian article, experts have named modular homes a revolution in Britain’s homebuilding sector. These types of houses can be built in just 10 days instead of the usual 40 weeks.
A factory in Yorkshire has started building three-bedroom houses that are fully-fitted and boast prices as low as £65,000. Eight homes will come off the production line every day and be delivered across the country.
Housing Secretary James Brokenshire commented: “This is about challenging the ways we have done things in the past.
“We want to see 300,000 homes being delivered by the mid-2020s, so we need to scale up and build more, better and faster. And that is precisely what this facility is about.”
The plant in Yorkshire run by Ilke Homes plans to build 2,000 new homes a year and hopes to increase that to 5,000 in the next five years. This will make the company a top UK housebuilder in terms of volume and will help fill the need for not only more homes but more affordable housing options.
