May hails boom for new home building
THERESA May hailed Brexit Britain’s house-building boom yesterday as figures showed 217,350 new homes were erected in England last year.
The number built in the year to April 2017 was 27,700 up on the previous year – the highest since the financial crash of 2007/08. And with planning permissions at record levels, the surge is set to continue.
Mrs May, who has pledged to take personal charge of the Government’s response to the housing crisis, said: “We want more people to have the security of a roof over their head, their own home for them and their family.”
Speaking on a visit to the Stonegrove and Spur Road estate in Edgware, north London, she added: “We’ve already set out the changes that we want to see made and the emphasis we want to see on housing.
“For decades we simply have not been building enough homes, nor have we been building them quickly enough, and we have seen prices rise.
“We must get back into the business of building the good quality new homes for people who need them most. That is why I have made it my mission to build the homes the country needs.”
The Home Builders Federation said the figures showed the industry was well on track to “smash” the target of building a million new homes.
Stewart Baseley, executive chairman of HBF, said: “Today’s statistics illustrate the huge progress being made, and the rapid rate at which builders have responded to positive measures from Government to deliver more and more new homes.
“It is no coincidence that since reform of the planning system in 2012 and the introduction of the Help To Buy scheme in 2013, housing supply has increased by a massive 74 per cent.”
The “net additional dwellings” figures released by the Department for Communities and Local Government include 183,570 new-builds completed in 2016/17, 5,680 conversions and 37,190 changes in use from agricultural, business or storage to residential.
The figures come after Chancellor Philip Hammond hinted at help for firsttime buyers in his Budget, but warned there was no “silver bullet” to fix the housing market.