The new housing statistics ‘clearly show’ the private sector cannot build the number of homes necessary to tackle the housing crisis, councillors argue.
The latest housebuilding data from Whitehall revealed there were over 150,000 new build starts in England in the year to December 2016 – this is up 5% on the previous year.
During the same period, completions totalled 140,660 – a 1% decrease on last year.
Housing minister Gavin Barwell welcomed the new figures, describing them as evidence the Government had got the ‘country building again’ with the highest number of housing starts for 9 years.
However, the Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron accused Downing Street of ‘cherry picking’ the data.
‘The government are just cherry picking their statistics for a decent headline,’ Mr Farron said.
‘The figures show that housing completions now are 26% below where they were in 2007.
‘This shows, starkly, how impossible the Government's housing target of 225,000 to 275,000 will be to achieve based on their current plans.’
‘All the Tories seem to care about is massaging the figures for a cheap and dubious headline,’ he added.
The statistics also revealed private enterprise new build starts were 4% higher in the December 2016 quarter, but completions were 5% lower.
This is in contrast to housing associations where starts were 4% higher and completions were 1% higher.
Responding to the latest housing statistics, Cllr Martin Tett, housing spokesman at the Local Government Association (LGA), said: ‘Between 220,000 and 250,000 homes a year need to be built to meet growing housing need.
‘The private sector clearly has an important role to play but these figures clearly show that it cannot build the number of homes we need on its own.
'Councils are well-placed to plug the housing gap and want to get on with the job of building the new homes that people in their areas desperately need.
‘A renaissance in housebuilding by councils is needed if we are to stand any chance of solving our housing crisis.
‘This means councils being given the ability to borrow to invest in housing and to keep 100% of the receipts from properties sold through Right to Buy to replace homes and reinvest in building more genuinely affordable homes.’
