House building figures are also provided for the other UK countries.
Summary
* Provisional figures for England for 2004/05 show:
* 173,500 starts, up 8 per cent on the figure for 2003/04
* 154,600 completions, up 8 per cent on the figure for 2003/04
* In England during the quarter to March 2005 there were:
* 40,300 housing starts, down 5 per cent on the same period in 2004.
* 33,600 housing completions, up 5 per cent on the same period in 2004.
Most of this increased house building activity was in London, where in 2004/05 there were 23,920 housing completions up 23 per cent on the previous year. Outside London, completions were up 5 per cent.
Provisional 2004/05 figures for Wales show:
* 9,700 starts, down 4 per cent on the figure for 2003/04
* 9,500 completions, up 15 per cent on the figure for 2003/04
Recent trends in house building in England There have been upward trends in housing starts and completions in England since 2002/03 (Chart 1, trends shown by a 'moving quarterly average'). At this time, starts and completions were running at about 37,000 and 34,000 per quarter. These rates have increased to 43,000 and 38,000 per quarter respectively up to the end of 2004/05 with starts tailing off slightly over the last financial year.
Regional trends
North and Midlands
Starts are levelling off after recent upward trends in the North West, Yorkshire and the Humber and the East Midlands. Trends in completions remain fairly level.
London, South East, East and South West
London, South East and East have seen upward trends since 2002/03. In the South East, starts and completions were running at around 6,400 and 5,600 per quarter in 2002/03. These rates have now risen to 7,500 and 6,500 up to the quarter to March 2005. Starts however, have shown a downturn in the year up to the most recent quarter.
London has seen large rises in starts and completions since mid 2003/04, although the trend has levelled out up to the most recent quarter. Starts and completions per quarter have remained level in the South West.
