As a follow up to my previous ‘The Myth of Land Banking’ article, concerning the House Builders Federation’s recently published report, I have looked at the House Building: March Quarter 2014, England statistical release by the Department for Communities and Local Government. This report outlines the seasonally adjusted housing starts and housing completions for the 2014 March quarter. Below I have summarised the key points:

House building at a National level:

Both housing starts and completions were, understandably, affected by the economic downturn of 2008. Starts were perceived to rapidly decline then stabilise in the March quarter of 2009. In contrast housing completions fell far less quickly but over a longer period of time. Completions levelled out and started to recover in the third quarter of 2010.

Within the past year housing starts have begun to increase, with an estimated 36,450 starts in the March quarter of 2014 - an 11% increase on the previous quarter. Housing completions have remained relatively stable, however, in the March quarter of 2014 estimated completions stood at 27,670, a 12 per cent increase on the same quarter a year earlier.

House building at a Sub-National level:

Particularly strong areas of new build starts can be seen along the M3, M4 and M5 corridors, from Cornwall up towards Worcestershire and along the South coast. Areas with relatively low levels of starts are few and far between but can be found in some areas of London.

From March 2013 to March 2014 an increase in start levels is evident in 233 out of 326 authorities. During the same time period completion rates increased in 176 out of 326 authorities.

'The Myth of Land Banking' looked at the reasons behind why housing in Britain has not been getting built at a fast enough rate. The evidence examined within this article suggests that in fact the rate of house building is increasing. However we must question still, how, where and when houses can be constructed. For as Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, pinpointed today, the shortage of housing is the biggest threat facing this country's economic recovery.