New analysis has found that half (51.8%) of local authorities in England are building fewer homes than they were five years ago, with nearly one in three areas seeing completions drop by a third or more.
The research, carried out by rent-to-buy provider Keyzy using Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government data, identified Lincoln as the worst-hit area, with a 97.5% collapse in housebuilding, followed by Crawley (93.8%) and Reigate & Banstead (89.8%).
Major cities haven't been spared either: Sheffield's output fell 82% to just 190 homes last year, while Manchester and Liverpool both saw completions drop by 66%.
Overall, completions across England are down 7.5% over five years, to 143,110.
Not every area is struggling — Fareham (457% rise), Uttlesford (378%) and Torridge (358%) all posted big increases.
Jeremy Matallah, co-founder of Keyzy, said: ‘This isn't a slowdown. In many areas of the country, home building has simply disintegrated.
‘New-build droughts are cropping up across the country. These are areas that might have been doing quite well five years ago in terms of solving the housing crisis but have since seen their pace of home creation collapse.’
