The industry may well be on track to build 1m homes by 2020, the Home Builders Federation has claimed.

Government figures for housing supply, from April 1, 2015 to March 31, 2016, show there were 189,650 net additions to the housing stock, up 11%.

Of this number, 163,940 were new-build homes, 30,600 gains from change of use between non-domestic and residential, 4,760 from conversions between houses and flats and 780 from other gains such as caravans or house boats.

Stewart Baseley, executive chairman of the HBF, said: “These figures provide the best evidence to date as to how much house builders have ramped up housing supply. The Government’s ambitious target to build 1m homes over the course of this parliament is now within reach.

“In response to the positive measures introduced by Government in recent years, such as Help to Buy, huge increases in output have been delivered. Providing the Government continues to create an environment within which the industry can operate and grow house builders will continue to increase delivery of new homes.

“The industry is committed to delivering the high-quality new homes the country needs to address our housing crisis. As we build desperately needed new homes the industry is creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs directly and in the supply chain, boosting local economies across the country.

“Moving forward, the house-building industry will play a key role in building a new Britain and driving our post-Brexit economy.”

To achieve the Government’s ‘1m homes in this Parliament’ target, output needs to average 200k homes a year.

The HBF’s declaration that the target could be met comes just days after housing minister Gavin Barwell told Sky News that the Government needs to do better.

Barwell said: “We inherited a position in 2010 where house-building rates in this country were at their lowest since the 1920s.

“We’ve seen significant progress.

“But absolutely we are still not at the rate that we need to be in order to meet our ambition to get this country building the homes that are so desperately needed.”