House building, Q2 2017

There were 1,860 new dwellings completed in Buckinghamshire in the year to the end of June 2017, representing 0.9 per cent of existing stock, the 8th highest house building rate among both the 27 county councils and the 38 Local Enterprise Partnerships.

This was the highest four quarter total since 2011 despite completions in the quarter to June falling to 400.  Starts remain above the national rate at 0.8 per cent of stock but fell to 1,740 in the last year.

Aylesbury Vale had the 19th highest house building rate of all 326 local authorities in England in the last year, completing 1,180 homes or 1.5 per cent of stock, while also starting 1,180 dwellings to rank 20th.  Aylesbury Vale has accounted for 63.4 per cent of housing completions in Buckinghamshire and 67.8 per cent of starts in the last year.  Since the start of 2010, 7,870 homes have been completed in Aylesbury Vale, compared to 2,750 in Wycombe, 1,200 in Chiltern and 1,110 in South Bucks.

Table 1: Dwellings completed and started in the year to Q2 2017

Source: DCLG, 2017 (live tables 100 & 253a)

The 1,860 new homes built in Buckinghamshire in the last year was more than that built in any of the Core Cities and all but three of the 32 London Boroughs.  Aylesbury Vale alone built more in the last year than Sheffield (1,060), Newcastle (800), Bristol (710), Liverpool (710), Birmingham (650), Manchester (550) and Nottingham (540).

At the national level, completions rose 9.9 per cent compared to the previous year to 152,790 and 32.6 per cent since 2010, while starts rose 10.0 per cent to 161,370 (up 49.7 per cent compared to 2010).  Despite these increases, national house building on both measures remains below both pre-recession levels and house building targets.

In Buckinghamshire, houses are being built at a record level, with completions in the last year being 53.7 per cent above completions in the year to Q2 2010, rising to 78.8 per cent in Aylesbury Vale.  If national house building matched Buckinghamshire’s rate, 207,060 homes would have been built in the last year, equating to more than a million over a Parliament.  If England had matched Aylesbury Vale’s rate, 367,800 homes would have been built in the last year.

The raw data are available here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-house-building  

Table 2: Dwellings completed in years ending Q2 over time

Source: DCLG, 2017 (live tables 100 and 253a)

Table 3: Dwellings started in year ending Q2 over time

Source: DCLG, 2017 (live tables 100 and 253a)

Table 4: Dwellings completed and started by LEP in year to Q2 2017

Source: DCLG, 2017 (live tables 100 and 253a)