New housing supply in England has increased by a quarter, after five consecutive years of numbers going down.
Altogether, there were 170,690 extra new homes between 2014 and 2015.
The 170,690 net additions were made up of 155,080 new builds, 4,950 conversions and 20,650 homes resulting from change of use.
Conversions are when a house is split into flats; change of use is when a non-residential building such as a shop, office or barn is converted into a home.
Rules about shop and office conversions into residential use have been relaxed over the last two years.
Also included in the 2004-2015 figures are 630 other gains and a loss of 10,610 homes through demolition.
The number of extra new homes between 2014 and 2015 was 25% up on the previous year.
While the figure is the highest since 2008-2009, it is still 24% below the 2007-2008 peak.
All figures were published yesterday by the Department for Communities and Local Government.
Needless to say, Conservative ministers greeted the data as a triumph, while Labour laid into the Tories for presiding over a continuing housing crisis.
We could quote you what everyone said, but we thought we’d spare you.
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