The latest England net supply of housing statistics produced by Communities and Local Government show that annual housing supply in England reached 166,570 net additional dwellings in 2008-09, a 20% decrease on the 207,370 net additional homes supplied in the previous year, and the lowest annual level of net housing supply since 2003-04.
Since 2001-02, net housing supply increased for six consecutive years, reaching a total of 207,370 net additional dwellings in 2007-08.
In 2008-09 95% of net additional dwellings were accounted for by new build completions, this is two percentage points less than in the previous years. The next largest components of net additional dwellings were the net change of non dwellings brought into residential use (10%) and demolitions (-10%).
Net housing supply decreased by 20% (40,800 dwellings) between 2007-08 and 2008-09, this compares to an increase of 4% between 2006-07 and 2007-08. This fall resulted from a decrease of new build completions (- 42,700), net conversions (-400), net gains of other types of dwellings such as mobile homes and temporary dwellings (-800) and the number of additional dwellings resulting from changes of use (-1,000).
The number of demolitions fell by 3,900, this compares to a decrease of 1,800 demolitions between 2006-07 and 2007-08.
In 2008-09, net housing supply was highest in the South East (32,320 dwellings) and lowest in the North East (4,310 dwellings).
National annual net housing supply increased by 76,950 dwellings from 130,510 net additional dwellings in 2001-02 to 207,370 in 2007-08, before falling to 166,570 net additional dwellings in 2008-09. All regions have experienced higher levels of annual net housing supply since 2001-02 except the East Midlands, whose net supply of housing for 2008-09 was 960 dwellings less than in 2001-02.
Eight out of the nine English regions experienced a decrease in the number of net additional dwellings supplied in the 2008-09 financial year. The North East saw the largest annual decrease (43%), followed by the North West (37%). London was the only region to experience an annual increase in net housing supply (3%).
