The number of homes being created in England is still below its pre-crisis peak according to the latest government data.

Just 217,3502 more homes were created last year compared with 223,530 in 2007/8

• Key Findings
• New build completions were up 12% in 2016/17 on the previous year to 183,570, still way off the 200,300 seen in 2007/8.
• Meanwhile, new homes from change of use rose 22% to 37,190, a figure that had already risen by 48% in 2015/16.
• There were 4,927 more office-to-residential conversions in 2016/17 (up 38.4% to 17,751)
• 600 fewer demolitions (down 5.8% to 9,820).

It was a decade ago this year that the sub-prime crisis took hold, causing the rate at which the country added new homes to tumble by 18% and 21% in 2008/9 and 2009/10 respectively, falling as low as 124,720 in 2012/13.

It wasn’t until 2013 that we started to see the rate of home creation grow with rises as high at 25% in 2014/15. Average house prices in England rose 22.9% between March 2008 and March 2017 to £231,801.