Dataset Indicators of house building, UK: permanent dwellings started and completed by country

Housing is a devolved area of government. This release brings together published data from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to provide quarterly UK totals for newly built dwellings. This allows users to easily compare over time and between areas, as well as with a total for Great Britain and the UK, in a timely manner. 

These statistics provide a timely leading indicator of housing supply. However, they do not cover all house building in the UK, because not all house building projects are included in the building inspection data on which the statistics are based.   

For England, the primary measure of housing supply is the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local government (MHCLG)’s annual Housing supply: net additional dwellings series. This is a more complete (but less frequent) measure of changes to the size of the dwelling stock based on the more detailed annual returns from local authorities and the Greater London Authority. In addition to starts and completions, the net addition dwelling series includes conversions, demolitions and changes of use, and so is more complete when looking at the provision of new homes. 

Similarly, Scottish government’s Supply of new housing series includes conversions, demolitions and changes of use. These series are therefore a fuller measure when looking at the creation of new homes.