While 238,000 homes received planning permission last year, only 129,000 units actually started construction in the same period, according to figures released today.
This indicates a significant disparity between planning permissions and builds starting on site, following the unveiling of two new housing schemes announced by Communities Secretary, Eric Pickles, at the Conservative Party conference this week.
"This data highlighted London and the South East's dominance over house building activity," Barbour ABI, the provider of the Government's Construction and Infrastructure Pipeline, said.
"Both regions combined accounting for nearly a third (29%) of all planning permissions in the residential sector. The North West and South West were not far behind with 12% and 11% respectively, and house building at its lowest was in the North East at 5% and Wales at 3%."
On the findings of the data, Michael Dall, lead economist at Barbour ABI, said: "These figures clearly indicate that, while there are potentially enough homes in the pipeline to meet the Labour Party's target of delivering 200,00 affordable homes a year by 2020, more needs to be done to get work underway so that the overall number of new homes being built can continue to increase."
