Starts and completions of new build dwellings in the UK, on a quarterly and annual basis, time series data

Private companies were responsible for most of the new homes built in the United Kingdom (UK), amounting to ******* units in 2024. Housing completions in the UK decreased for three years in a row between 2007 and 2010. This was followed by several years of fluctuation and a gradual increase from 2013 to 2019. The number of homes completed in England remained relatively stable in 2022 and 2023, after reaching a low point in the second quarter of 2020 due to the restrictions implemented to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Construction starts and completions Comparing the number of starts and completions in London side-by-side shows that whenever there is a significant growth or fall in the number of projects started, that peak or valley tends to be reflected in the number of buildings completed a couple of years later. Nevertheless, disruptions, delays, and other obstacles may affect that correlation. Still, observing how many home construction projects started in the UK can provide some insight into the level of activity that construction companies may have in the near future. Given that the number of housing starts is forecast to fall in 2024, there might be slightly less work to be carried out the following year. Nevertheless, housing starts are expected to pick up again by 2025 and 2026. Housing associations in the UK Housing associations are not-for-profit organizations created to develop and rent homes for a lower price than in the private market. They have acquired certain relevance in the UK, although this type of organization also exists in other countries. On several occasions during the past decade, over a fifth of housing starts in London were developed by housing associations. Meanwhile, the number of new homes completed in Scotland by housing associations has increased a lot throughout the years, with several thousand units constructed every year during the past decades.

This statistic shows housebuilding completions in England from the fiscal year of 2001/02 to the fiscal year of 2017/18, showing the mix between houses and flats each year. In the fiscal year of 2017/18, houses accounted for ** percent of residential buildings constructed in England.

Time-series data on starts and completions of new build dwellings in English regions on a quarterly basis (now produced by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities as Table 217).

In 2023, there were around 20,000 fewer dwellings completed in England than in the previous year. This came after the number of homes constructed decreased to 146,650 in 2020, only to recover quickly in the two following years. Meanwhile, in 2010 only 106,720 dwellings were constructed, making it the weakest year in the timeline for home completion.

Residential building contractors are contingent on the propensity of property developers to invest in new ventures; movements in property prices; government schemes intended to boost the housing supply; and underlying sentiment in the housing market. Industry contractors have endured turbulent operating conditions over the past five years, leading to volatile shifts in revenue and profitability. Revenue is forecast to grow at a compound annual rate of 5.4% over the five years through 2025-26, reaching £100.5 billion. The pandemic caused a significant drop in output in 2020-21, as restrictions placed on on-site activity and fewer enquiries for new housing units reduced revenue opportunities. Aided by government support for the housing market and the release of pent-up demand, 2021-22 was characterised by a strong rebound in activity, though materials and labour shortages maintained constraints on output. Mounting supply chain disruption and heightened economic uncertainty maintained pressure on output in the following year, though revenue growth was maintained by growth in average selling prices. Interest rate hikes and inflationary pressures led to a more subdued housing market in 2022-23, holding back the number of housing starts and completions during the year. This was followed by a slump in new residential building construction in the following year, as high borrowing costs and uncertain market conditions caused developers to scale back investment plans. The new Labour government has put forth ambitious housing targets, leading to planning reforms, increased funding for SME housebuilders and a particular focus on affordable housing to speed up housing delivery. Even though economic conditions continue to affect investor sentiment, supportive supply-side policies are anticipated to boost revenue growth by 0.5% in 2025-26. This growth is expected to also be fuelled by an uptick in new orders for residential building construction, coupled with a rise in average selling prices. Revenue is slated to climb at a compound annual rate of 2.3% to reach £112.5 billion over the five years through 2030-31. Housebuilding activity is set to grow in the medium-term, aided by the release of pent-up demand. Nonetheless, significant uncertainty remains, with mortgage rates likely to settle well-above pre-pandemic levels and supply chains remaining fragile. The new government’s pledge to deliver 1.5 million houses during the first five years of parliament will boost demand for industry contractors, though the full impact of this on growth prospects is dependent on the nature and extent of accompanying funding plans.

The number of housing starts was forecast to increase by ****** units in 2025 in comparison to the previous year. After that, the number of new construction starts is predicted to grow significantly, reaching ******* new housing starts in 2029.

The UK Residential Construction Market is Segmented by Type (Apartments & Condominiums, Landed Houses & Villas, and Other Types), by Construction Type (New Construction and Renovation), by Construction Method (Conventional On-Site, Modern Methods of Construction), by Investment Source (Public, Private), and by Geography (London, Birmingham, and More). The Market Forecasts are Provided in Terms of Value (USD).

Dwellings built, starts and completions, by tenure, House building: permanent dwellings completed, by tenure, by house and flat, number of bedrooms etc and country.

England was the country with the most of the new home construction starts in the United Kingdom in the first quarter of 2025, with ****** units. Housing starts in England declined very sharply in the second half of 2023, while those figures remained more stable in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Meanwhile, Wales was the region with the least new housing constructions started in 2025.

Market Size statistics on the Residential Building Construction industry in the UK

Total number of housing completions (seasonally adjusted)

How the figure is calculated:

Total housing completions are reported by local authority and private building control organisations after the end of each quarter. A completion is counted when a dwelling is ready for habitation. The figures are seasonally adjusted to allow comparisons with previous quarters.

Why is this indicator in the business plan?

Increasing the supply of housing is a key part of DCLG policy. The house building figures are the most frequent and timely indicator of housing delivery.

How often is it updated?

Quarterly

Where does the data come from?

P2 quarterly house building returns by local authority building control departments; monthly information from the National House Building Council (NHBC) on the volume of building control inspections; and a quarterly survey of private building control companies. Published figures are at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-communities-and-local-government/series/house-building-statistics.

What area does the headline figure cover?

England

Are further breakdowns of the data available?

Yes, can be split by local authority area and by tenure

What does a change in this indicator show?

An increase in this indicator is good and shows more new houses are being completed.

Time Lag

Figures are published within two months of the end of the reporting period.

Next available update

May 2015.

Type of Data

National Statistics.

Robustness and data limitations

The P2 figures from local authorities and figures from private building control companies include imputation for a small number of missing returns.

Seasonal factors for the house building time series are re-calculated annually back to 2000. This is usually done in the second quarter of the calendar year. Therefore the seasonally adjusted house building figures throughout the whole period change slightly at that time but are not marked as 'revised'.

Links to Further Information

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-communities-and-local-government/series/house-building-statistics

Contact Details

CorporatePerformance@communities.gsi.gov.uk

This data set contains annual data and the most recent quarterly data on house building starts. From 2011/12 imputed data is included. Imputed data should not be seen as an estimate for the individual authority but is given on an authority basis to allow custom totals to be constructed.

House building data are collected at local authority district level, but it is important to treat figures at this level with care. House building is unevenly distributed both geographically and over time and patterns of housing development can produce clusters of new homes which make the figures at a low geographic level volatile and difficult to interpret.

For detailed definitions of all tenures, see definitions of housing terms on Housing Statistics

The district level and county figures are as reported by local authorities and the NHBC. Where a local authority has not submitted a quarterly return to DCLG, no figure has been presented for this local authority (and when relevant its county) for any 12-month period that includes the missing quarter.

England total figures include estimates for missing data returns from independent Approved Inspectors and Local Authorities, so the sum of district values may be slightly less than the England totals.

House building starts - A dwelling is counted as started on the date work begins on the laying of the foundation, including 'slabbing' for houses that require it, but not including site preparation. Thus when foundation work commences on a pair of semi-detached houses two houses are counted as started, and when work begins on a block of flats all the dwellings in that block are counted as started. The starts of houses in building schemes are usually phased over a period of weeks or even, in very large schemes, months.

Tenure – For the purposes of these statistics, the term tenure refers to the nature of the organisation responsible for the development of a new housing start or completion. It does not necessarily describe the terms of occupancy for the dwelling on completion. For example, some housing associations develop homes for sale on the open market. Such homes would be reported in the Housing Association tenure of these statistics, but would ultimately most likely be owned and occupied in the private sector.

Housing association - “Housing associations (HAs)” is used as the generic name for all social landlords not covered by local authorities (see below). In previous editions HAs were referred to as Registered Social Landlords (RSL), and the technical term (private) Registered Provider (pRP) of social housing is also sometimes used. The more all-encompassing description of ‘housing associations’ is now seen as more helpful to users of these statistics.

These data were derived from live table 253a (quarterly figures).

The number of housing units whose construction started in Wales in 2023 was over three times higher than in 2020. The source did not provide data for 2021. Overall, the number of housing starts has decreased a lot between 2000 and 2020. Wales was the country with the lowest number of housing completions per capita in Great Britain.

The number of housing starts and completions in London decreased sharply in the fiscal year 2024/25. That came after a period of steadily increasing housing starts between 2019/20 and 2022/23, with ****** units started that latter year. Meanwhile, the number of new residential property starts in London amounted to ***** dwellings in 2024/25. However, the overall housing starts in the United Kingdom were forecasted to grow significantly in the coming years. How do residential construction costs compare across regions in the United Kingdom? Construction costs have been an important challenge for contractors and homebuilders in the United Kingdom, having an effect on their profit, but also on the final price of housing. Residential construction costs in the UK varied significantly by city and building type, with apartment high-rises generally being more expensive to construct than medium-standard townhouses. Overall, construction costs reflect a trend in which urban centers like London and Manchester have the highest average residential building construction costs in the UK. What is the price of a newly built home in the United Kingdom? Over the past decade, house prices have generally increased, reflecting a steady upward trend in the housing market. By the end of 2023, the average price of a newly built house in the UK amounted to nearly ******* British pounds. However, this represented a slight dip compared to the previous quarter, which recorded the highest average house prices since 2013. These trends suggest that the rise in housing costs will continue in the long-term, even if prices fluctuate slightly in certain quarters.

Housing Starts in the United Kingdom increased to 29490 units in the second quarter of 2025 from 28780 units in the first quarter of 2025. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - United Kingdom Housing Starts - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

Total number of housing starts (seasonally adjusted)

How the figure is calculated:

Total housing starts are reported by local authority and private building control organisations after the end of each quarter. A start is counted from the point at which foundation work begins. The figures are seasonally adjusted to allow comparisons with previous quarters.

Why is this indicator in the business plan?

Increasing the supply of housing is a key part of DCLG policy. The house building figures are the most frequent and timely indicator of housing delivery.

How often is it updated?

Quarterly

Where does the data come from?

P2 quarterly house building returns by local authority building control departments; monthly information from the National House Building Council (NHBC) on the volume of building control inspections; and a quarterly survey of private building control companies. Published figures are at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-communities-and-local-government/series/house-building-statistics.

What area does the headline figure cover?

England

Are further breakdowns of the data available?

Yes, can be split by local authority area and by tenure

What does a change in this indicator show?

An increase in this indicator is good and shows more new houses are being started.

Time Lag

Figures are published within two months of the end of the reporting period.

Next available update

May 2015.

Type of Data

National Statistics.

Robustness and data limitations

The P2 figures from local authorities and figures from private building control companies include imputation for a small number of missing returns.

Seasonal factors for the house building time series are re-calculated annually back to 2000. This is usually done in the second quarter of the calendar year. Therefore the seasonally adjusted house building figures throughout the whole period change slightly at that time but are not marked as 'revised'.

Links to Further Information

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-communities-and-local-government/series/house-building-statistics

Contact Details

CorporatePerformance@communities.gsi.gov.uk