Total number of housing starts (seasonally adjusted)
How the figure is calculated:
Total housing starts are reported by local authority and private building control organisations after the end of each quarter. A start is counted from the point at which foundation work begins. The figures are seasonally adjusted to allow comparisons with previous quarters.
Why is this indicator in the business plan?
Increasing the supply of housing is a key part of DCLG policy. The house building figures are the most frequent and timely indicator of housing delivery.
How often is it updated?
Quarterly
####Where does the data come from?
P2 quarterly house building returns by local authority building control departments; monthly information from the National House Building Council (NHBC) on the volume of building control inspections; and a quarterly survey of private building control companies. Published figures are at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-communities-and-local-government/series/house-building-statistics.
What area does the headline figure cover?
England
Are further breakdowns of the data available?
Yes, can be split by local authority area and by tenure
What does a change in this indicator show?
An increase in this indicator is good and shows more new houses are being started.
Time Lag
Figures are published within two months of the end of the reporting period.
Next available update
May 2015.
Type of Data
National Statistics.
Robustness and data limitations
The P2 figures from local authorities and figures from private building control companies include imputation for a small number of missing returns.
Seasonal factors for the house building time series are re-calculated annually back to 2000. This is usually done in the second quarter of the calendar year. Therefore the seasonally adjusted house building figures throughout the whole period change slightly at that time but are not marked as 'revised'.
Links to Further Information
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-communities-and-local-government/series/house-building-statistics
Contact Details
CorporatePerformance@communities.gsi.gov.uk
