Big increase in new home registrations

Welsh Labour’s Housing, Regeneration and Heritage Minister Huw Lewis has welcomed new statistics that show a big increase in the number of homes registered to be built by local authorities and housing associations in Wales between March and May this year and congratulated the organisations involved on their efforts.

Figures released by the National House Building Council show that the number of registrations to build new homes by local authorities and housing associations increased by 251% compared to the same period in 2011. 425 houses were registered to be built by these organisations between March and May 2012, which is more than half of the 829 new homes completed by local authorities and housing associations during 2011-12.

Welsh Government funding through the Social Housing Grant has contributed to some of the developments included in the figures. Nearly £60m is available through the Social Housing Grant this year for new affordable housing developments. The Welsh Labour Government is also working closely with housing associations, local authorities and organisations such as Community Housing Cymru to find new ways of raising more finance to provide much needed homes, such as the Welsh Housing Partnership and the Welsh Housing Bond.

The 425 homes registered to be built in Wales between March and May 2012 mark important progress towards achieving the Welsh Labour Government’s target of providing an additional affordable 7,500 homes during this term of government. The number of houses registered to be built by the private sector also increased by 37% between March-May 2012 compared with the same period in 2011.