Data from the Office for National Statistics shows that just 210,320 dwellings were completed in 2023, compared with 252,500 in 2022. That was the highest figure since the early 1980s, but was distorted by post-Covid completions. A little over 40,000 of these are social housing, nearly all built by the private sector and then parcelled out to housing associations to manage as a condition of planning.
In terms of bare numbers, supply appears to be keeping pace with demand. The 2021 census reported 23.4 million households in England (not including Wales), 935,000 fewer than expected based on
