Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, house building managed to restart and adapt to new restrictions

A total of 11,056 new homes across the country were completed by G15 members in 2020/21 despite the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Out of the 11,056 newly completed homes, 72% were for affordable housing tenures, including 48% being affordable rented homes. The proceeds from the sales of homes completed for the open market and market rent are used to help deliver affordable homes through cross-subsidy.

The number of new homes completed in the last year was the second highest total since 2015/16, only bettered by the 13,356 homes that were handed over in 2018/19.

Alongside the completions, 2020/21 also saw construction begin on a further 10,951 new homes, 85% of which are affordable homes – the highest proportion in the last six years.

The last year saw building works start on the largest number of new social rent homes since 2015/16, with 1,050 homes getting under way. 

Meanwhile, new market sale homes fell from 22% of total starts in 2019/20 to just under 12% in 2020/21, whereas the proportion of new homes for shared ownership that started on site is up by around 3% year-on-year.

In terms of location, 60% of starts in the last year were on homes in London, and 64% of handovers were in the capital.

In the first three months of the new financial year (2021/22), a further 1,675 homes were handed over and building work began on 813 homes, 99% of which were affordable homes.

Geeta Nanda OBE, G15 chair and chief executive of Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing (MTVH), commented: “Building the new homes that people across the country so desperately need is incredibly important and these latest figures show the massive contribution G15 members are making to tackling the housing crisis.

“The last 18 months have been some of the hardest I can ever recall, especially with the initial site shutdowns that were required, and the challenges social distancing presented on construction sites. With that in mind, to have delivered the second largest number of new homes in any year since 2015/16 is testimony to the hard work and commitment of our colleagues and partners.

“We’re determined to continue building the new homes people need, including affordable homes. 85% of the new homes we started construction on last year are for affordable tenures, so I’m really looking forward to seeing further progress on delivering those homes in the coming year.

“However, we are seeing some challenges from shortages of labour and materials, which are contributing to rising construction costs. We will continue to work with our contractors and suppliers to mitigate these risks as far as possible, but they do point to longer-term issues that will need addressing, such as ensuring we are training and bringing new people into the construction section at a steady rate.”