Positive momentum for homebuyers, housing associations, and self-employed mortgage seekers. Homes England has delivered nearly 37,000 new homes in the year to March 2025 — a 12% increase on the previous year.
Crucially, more than three-quarters of these completions were affordable homes, reflecting a surge in output from the Affordable Homes Programme 2021–2026. With new housing starts also on the rise, the outlook for affordable home availability is improving — a timely development for anyone hoping to buy or remortgage this year.
Affordable Homes Now Make Up 77% of All Completions
Homes England reported 36,872 new home completions in the 12 months to March 2025 — up 12% on the previous year. Of these, 28,370 were classified as affordable housing, marking a 15% increase. That means 77% of all completions fell into the affordable category.
The biggest gains were in social rent completions, which rose 33% year-on-year to 5,732 homes. Affordable rent completions hit 10,755 (up 15%), while intermediate schemes — such as shared ownership — reached 11,883, up 13%.
The rise is largely due to the pipeline of projects from the Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) 2021–2026 reaching maturity. Homes England CEO Eamonn Boylan said: “These statistics demonstrate the commitment and determination of the sector to build the new homes and communities the country needs.”
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New Starts Signal Ongoing Supply – But Mix of Homes Is Shifting
Housing starts also increased 5% to 38,308 in the same period. Of those, 30,087 were for affordable housing — 79% of all new starts. However, there were shifts in how these were allocated:
- Social rent starts: 5,680 — up 43%
- Intermediate schemes: 2,800 — down 27%
- Affordable rent: 2,665 — down 18%
In addition, 18,942 affordable home starts still have their tenure to be confirmed, up slightly from the previous year.
Homes England confirmed that 96% of these affordable starts came through the AHP 2021–2026. The previous funding scheme, SOAHP 2016–2021, has now finished delivering new starts after exceeding its target with 136,169 homes. It will continue to deliver completions through to March 2026.
Looking ahead, the government has pledged £39 billion in new affordable housing funding over 10 years and recently announced plans for a National Housing Bank to unlock over £53 billion in private investment.
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