Government cheer new housing start figures but does it tell the whole story?

Figures for new housing starts were out this week and with it came Housing Minister Matt Pennycook to proclaim the numbers.

The MP for Greenwich & Woolwich heralded that “Housing starts in Q2 of this year were up 6% on the previous quarter (a 20% increase on the same quarter last year)” and “London saw the biggest increase with starts up a phenomenal 298% on last year.”

For a government a long, long way behind its 1.5 million housing target across this Parliament and overseeing a mass increase in homeless households – following on from similar seen under the prior Tory government – this all sounds like cause for celebration.

But is it?

Like for like data

Well, of course statistics are often a little iffy. When delving in and looking it doesn’t appear quite as rosy according to this analysis, with the 20 per cent national increase flawed. That’s because the Building Safety Regulator’s reporting of numbers cannot be accurately measured on the year before.

And those London numbers with a 300 per cent increase? That’s impressive in percentage terms but in terms of actual homes it compares to a truly dismal period twelve months ago, and even with growth from those lows the recent level is around half the capital saw for much of the past decade.

To be specific, last year in Q2 saw 882 starts according to the GLA. A decade ago in 2016 it was 5,150 dwellings starting in Quarter 2.

A decade that of course saw insufficient new housing built as rents rose sharply and homeless household numbers rocketed bringing many councils to the bring of collapse and forced to enact major cuts. But one which make this government’s achievements thus far look pitiful.

Still, what about annual planning approvals? They were down eight per cent across the country. Applications were also down.

Completions

Housing completions across the country did rise in new data but only by 1.5 per cent and again from a low base in 2025.

In 2026 they’re around the same level as seen after the first austerity Parliament of the Lib Dem-Tory coalition in 2015. It’s also lower than almost every subsequent quarter under the Tories between 2015 and the party being voted out of power in 2024.

Take a longer viewpoint and much of the 20th century utterly shames what Labour, Conservative and the Lib Dem/Tory coalition have overseen since the 1980s.

And so an ever rising population has seen more overcrowding and more people in private temporary accommodation at vast cost to the taxpayer.

Despite what the government have been promoting this week, they’re a long, long way from getting close to fixing it.