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Affordable housebuilding up 12%
The number of affordable houses delivered last year rose by 12%, official statistics released today show.
A total of 47,355 affordable homes were completed, including acquisitions, in the 12 months up to the 31 March 2018 – up from 41,530 in the previous year.
Just 6,463 homes for social rent were completed – a 10% increase on 2016/17 but still the second lowest level on record.
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Most new affordable homes were for affordable rent, which can be set at up to 80% of market rents, as has been the case since 2013/14 after the Conservative-Liberal Democrat government introduced the product.
There were 26,838 homes of this tenure delivered in 2017/18, 57% of the total affordable housing supply.
Shared ownership accounted for 10,880 new affordable homes, with the rest for other products such as affordable homeownership, intermediate rent or London Affordable Rent.
Nearly half – 47% – of affordable homes delivered in 2017/18 were funded through Section 106 planning agreements.
Nine in 10 completed affordable homes were new build, while work started on another 53,572 – an 11% increase on 2016/17.
The figures – published today by the Office for National Statistics – follow the government’s overall net housing additions last week which showed a 2% rise in housing supply, up to 222,190.
That means 21% of new housing supply was affordable in 2017/18, compared with 18% in 2016/17.
Research conducted by Heriot-Watt University on behalf of the National Housing Federation and homelessness charity Crisis has previously estimated that England needs 340,000 homes a year to tackle its housing shortage, including 90,000 for social rent.
