Quarterly housing starts hit highest level on record

The number of homes registered as starting on site in the three months to June leapt 21% to its highest level on record, in official figures based on building control data.

The numbers, which the government calls “indicators of new supply” because it doesn’t see them as reliable enough to call them official housebuilding statistics, showed that 51,730 homes were started in the second quarter of the year, seasonally adjusted, up 21% on the first quarter, and up 15% on the same quarter in 2021.

The figures also puts the quarterly starts 6% above the previous recorded quarterly peak, seen in the first quarter of 2007, just prior to the global financial crisis.

Commentators have previously suggested that the figures for this quarter are at risk of being skewed because of the introduction of the new uprated Part L from the start of July. The introduction of the new rules means that housebuilders starting schemes prior to that date will be able to build them out under the old, less stringent regulations, and previous upgrades have seen a spike in starts prior to the introduction of the new rules as developers seek to get schemes in under the wire.

The figures also show that seasonally adjusted completions also grew in the quarter, with 44,940 completions, up 3% from the first quarter of the year, and 6% above the second quarter figure from 2022. Completions remain below the 2007 housebuilding peak, however.

In the 12 months to June, there were 243,200 new Energy Performance Certificates lodged – another indicator of new supply – representing a 4% decrease on the previous year.