Labour’s pledge to build 1.5 million new homes in England across the next parliament requires a level of housebuilding
not seen since the 1960s.
In the last 12 months, construction started on fewer than 150,000 properties, meaning the government can’t get close to the
level required to meet the pledge initially.
The last time more
than 300,000 homes were completed in a year was 1969 – nearly half of which was council housing.
Historically, private sector
housebuilders have only delivered more than 170,000 in a year twice – that was during the
housing boom of the early 1970s.
Labour plans to reform the
economics and bureaucracy of housebuilding to increase private provision, but the scale of the ambition means they will be reliant on housing associations and local councils.
In the last year, housing associations started construction on 30,000 homes, while it was just 3,000 for English councils.
