This trend varies throughout the regions however.
Wales (89%) and East Anglia (70%) have the greatest number of new detached houses being built whilst, not surprisingly, new detached homes in Greater London account for less than 1% of new homes. This regional split has changed very little over the past decade.
Flats are easily the main type of new build in Greater London with approximately two thirds of new properties being flats (67%).
The research also shows that if the current level of house-building is not increased in London and the South East, there will be cumulative shortage of around 500,000 dwellings in these two regions by 2021.
Key Findings:
There are more 3 & 4 bedroom houses being built - yet the number of inhabitants per house is reducing.
There have been significant changes in the size of houses built over the past 20 years. In 1990/91 the majority of new houses built in England had two to three bedrooms. By 2000/01 the picture was different with over 66% of new properties having three or more bedrooms. In 1990/91, around 20% of new houses had one bedroom, and this had dropped by 2000/01 to less than 7%.
The trend for private housebuilding has been to build homes with more bedrooms. In 1990/91 almost half (45%) had only one or two bedrooms, but this had dropped to 29% by 200/01. In contrast, homes with three or more bedrooms has risen from 55% to 71%.
Registered Social Landlords (Housing Associations) have reduced the number of one bedroomed properties they are building from almost 45% to less than 20% in the ten year period from 1990/01. The number of four bedroomed properties being built by Registered Social Landlords has remained stable at around 4%.
Detached properties continue to be the main type of properties being built.
Even though the size of the average household in the UK is getting smaller, 3 and 4 bed-roomed detached properties are the most common type of property being built. This trend varies throughout the regions however. Wales (89%) and East Anglia (70%) have the greatest number of new detached houses being built whilst, not surprisingly, new detached homes in Greater London account for 0% of new homes.
Flats are easily the main type of new build in Greater London with approximately two thirds of new properties being flats (67%). Scotland is also seeing a large number of new flats being built (25%) and reflects, to a certain degree the desire for city living, particularly in places such as Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen.
The number of new homes is not keeping pace with the growth in demand
Growth in the numbers of households in the UK has been a little over 200,000 per annum, indicating that new house-building has not kept pace with the numbers of new households. This is particularly the case in certain regions. While in much of the north of England, Wales, Scotland and the Midlands the number of new homes being built have generally been in excess of the projected numbers of new households.
New Build is expected to keep pace with the projected growth in new households in most of the other regions in the UK. The North East, North West and Scotland are areas were there is likely to be an actual surplus of new properties being built.
The greatest new build programme is currently being experienced in Scotland with over 23,000 new properties being built during 2001/02. The region with the smallest new build programme is currently the North East with 6,400 properties being built in 2001/02. However it is in the southern regions of England and in particular in London and the South East where the average numbers of new homes being built each year are well below the rate of new household formation.
If current rates of house-building are not increased in London and the South East, and the decline established over the past 15 years reversed, this will mean a cumulative shortage of dwellings in these two regions of around 500,000 by 2021 if Government projections of household numbers are correct. These shortages of housing provide much of the explanation why houses not only cost more in these regions but also why these regions lead the way in terms of starting new bouts of house price inflation.
There are fewer new homes being built than before.
New house building has generally been somewhat above 180,000 each year over the past two decades, peaking at almost 414,000 in 1968. However, in 2001 the total of almost 162,000 new homes built in the UK was down over 3% on the previous year and was the lowest total of new homes built in any year in the UK since 1947. These overall figures disguise very different patterns of house-building in different parts of the UK.
The number of new houses built in England have been steadily decreasing over much of the past two decades, whereas in Wales house-building has been relatively stable while in Scotland and Northern Ireland increasing numbers of houses have been built.
Within this total there have been significant changes in the numbers of homes built by the private sector and within the public sector. Private sector completions rose sharply in the 1980’s, peaking in 1988 before falling back to 1992 and then remaining relatively stable throughout the 1990’s.
In contrast public sector house-building fell back during the 1980’s as local authorities built fewer homes but this was counterbalanced in the early 1990’s as Housing Associations (by far the great majority of Registered Social Landlords) built more homes.
However, in the second half of the 1990’s, numbers of new homes built by housing associations have also declined resulting in the low numbers of homes built in total each year.
Commenting , Martin Ellis, Chief Economist at Halifax, said:
"New homes continue to remain very popular. However, if the current pace of new house build continues, there will be a major shortage of homes in the UK by 2021. This shortage of supply will continue to push house prices up and make it even harder for people, particularly first time buyers, to get onto the housing ladder."
