Net additional housing supply declines in 3 straight years under the coalition government

Each succeeding housing initiative of the coalition government has been declared a resounding success. This is their version of evidence free policy. Alas, the latest Housing Statistical Release from the Department of Communities and Local Government shows a continuing decline of ‘net supply of housing’ in England. Annual Housing supply amounted to 124,720 net additional dwellings in 2012-13, an 8% decrease from the previous year. This marks the third year in a row that the numbers have declined under the coalition government.

The net additions are determined by adding together new build homes, conversions (e.g. conversion of a house or building into flats), change of use (e.g. a shop into a house, or vice versa), demolitions and other changes to the dwelling stock. Table 1, below, shows the number of annual net additional dwellings from 2000-01 through to 2012-13. As you can see in the last year of the New Labour government 144,770 net additional dwellings were added to the stock. Each succeeding year has seen a decline in their numbers, a decrease of 13.83% on the 2009-10 figures, and a 31% drop compared to 2008-9. Compared to the last pre-crash year the decline is almost 100,000.

Table 2 shows the breakdown of the different components for 2012/13. Table 3 shows the components of net supply from 2007-8.

Although there was an increase in new builds in 2011-12, the decline last year was 9,620.

In Swindon in 2012-13 there were only 600 net additional homes. Table 3 shows net additional dwellings for Swindon between 2004-05 and last year.

At the Council meeting last Thursday, Conservative Councillor Wayne Crabbe was honest enough to say that we face a “housing crisis”. “The picture out there,” he said, referring to the housing situation, “is quite dismal”. It is so as a result of the government’s disatrous housing strategy, of which the figures below are clear evidence.