The Government looks set to miss its house building targets of building 1m homes by 2020.

Data from the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MCHLG) shows the number of new homes started between when the pledge was first made in 2015 and the end of 2017 was 386,160, and the number of new build in the process of being built increased by 7,235, on average over the past two years.

If this average rate of growth is maintained, this would create another 529,950 homes by 2020, providing 916,110 in total, a shortfall of 83,890.

More recently, Chancellor Philip Hammond has pledge to build 300,000 homes a year by the mid-2020s, which may seem an even more lofty ambition given how far away the current target is.

Sam Mitchell, chief executive of online estate agents HouseSimple.com, said: “It could be a case of better late than never if the rate of building growth is to be believed but it’s going to be a tall order to keep this going for the next seven years.

“The Government’s main concern should be the anticipated failure to deliver on its most basic pledge to build one million homes by the end of 2020. If they fail, critics will simply paint the more lofty aspirations to build 300,000 homes a year as a piece of political theatre.

“This issue deserves to be more than a distraction for voters and it would help if the revolving door of housing ministers were to stop.

“The housing crisis is real and affordability problems play havoc with other parts of the economy as first-time buyers in particular are forced to part with significant chunks of their disposable income in order to get on the housing ladder.”