Drop off in construction of new homes in Northumberland

Figures from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities show building commenced on 1,030 homes in Northumberland in 2023, the lowest figure of any year from 2020 onwards and a fall from 1,710 the year before.

Across England, construction began on 149,000 new homes last year, down from 176,000 in 2022 and 178,000 in 2021.

The second quarter of 2023 saw a jump in new building starts, as developers rushed to beat new environmental regulations introduced last June.

Between April and June, 72,000 new homes were started, 380 of which were in Northumberland, but this spike was undone in the second half of the year.

July to December saw the smallest number of starts since 2008. Ground was broken for 38,000 new homes, with 430 of them in Northumberland.

Steve Turner, executive director at the Home Builders Federation, blamed the government's "weakening of the planning system, removal of housing targets, and lack of support for buyers" for holding up construction of new homes.

He said: "Despite the acute housing crisis we face, all indicators show further declines in supply ahead, frustrating the housing aspirations of the younger generation and costing thousands of construction workers’ jobs.”

The Conservative party promised 300,000 new homes a year by the mid-2020s in its 2019 manifesto but there was an 11% drop in the number of houses completed in 2023, with 158,000 last year.

Around 1,490 homes were completed in Northumberland last year, a fall from 1,590 the year before.

The Social Market Foundation think tank warned the last time England was hitting this target was in the 1960s.

Deputy research director James Gollings said: "If we want to get back to 300,000 a year, public sector building clearly needs to play a much bigger role.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: "We are on track to meet our commitment to deliver 1m homes over this Parliament and are taking significant steps to increase housing delivery through our long-term plan for housing."

"We have invested billions in housing to bring forward land for development, enabling the market to deliver the homes and infrastructure that communities need whilst also supporting local authority planning capacity.”