New housing work increased by 1.2% in November despite an overall fall in construction output, Office for National Statistics data reveal.

ONS figures for November show public housing projects grew by 5.5% while there was a 0.6% increase in the private sector.

Annually, new work was up 13.7% in public housing and 12.5% in the private sector.

However, other factors in the construction work sector, such as maintenance and repairs, dragged the figures down to a 0.2% monthly fall.

Commenting on the figures, Richard Connolly, chief executive of rent-to-buy homes provider Rentplus, said: “While the top line of today’s figures shows a minor drop in construction output, if we drill down into the data it reveals strong evidence that the Government’s commitment to drive up housing supply and their initiatives to do so are beginning to take effect.

“The notable increase in public housing is a significant factor underlying these figures. Whilst the number of new homes being built in the private sector is 12.5% higher when compared with November 2015, public sector housing output has similarly grown since then by 13.7%.

“However encouraging these numbers are, they still show that while momentum is growing in the housing market we have a long way to go to building at sufficient volume to meet the demand of 200,000 new homes each year.”

Connolly expressed hopes that the impending Housing White Paper would include a proposal to expand the definition of starter homes and affordable housing to include other tenure types like rent-to-buy.