The number of new affordable homes in England dropped by half over the last 12 months, new figures have revealed.
Latest figures from the Department for Communities and Local Government revealed that the amount of new affordable homes built in 2015-2016 dropped to 32,110 from 66,600 one year prior.
Property prices went up in September due to more enquiries and fewer listings
The data looked at newly-built affordable homes and new homes acquired by housing associations and showed that the number of housing under affordable home ownership schemes fell to only 3,430. This is a significant drop from 15,970 the year before.
The report did however point out that supply of new homes has a tendency to peak towards the end of each affordable housing programme.
“As part of a house building cycle, delivery is normally lower in the first year of any new housing programme.”
Housing charity, Shelter, was less impressed with the results.
“At a time when this country is crying out for more genuinely affordable homes, these figures are not only shocking but unacceptable,” said Anne Baxendale, its head of policy and public affairs.
In last year’s Autumn Statement, ex-Chancellor Osborne set a target of 400,000 new affordable homes by the end of 2020. Independent research on the other hand suggests that the country as a whole is in need of 300,000 new homes to keep up with the demand.
