House building: at its lowest level since the 1920s?

29 September 2016
What was claimed

House building has fallen to its lowest level since the 1920s.

Our verdict

Correct, although it’s been falling since the 1960s under different governments.

“...house building has fallen to its lowest level since the 1920s...”

Jeremy Corbyn, 28 September 2016

Mr Corbyn is correct that house building has been at a record low in recent years. England and Wales have seen the fewest new homes completed per year during peacetime since the 1920s, according to official statistics.

2010 saw the lowest level, with 112,000 homes being built across England and Wales. In 2015 this increased to 149,000.

But the number of new homes has been falling since the 1960s. Before 2010, the period with the second lowest level of house building was seen under Labour in the early 2000s.

This isn't a new claim; we’ve looked at it before in more detail.

Update 29 September 2016

We updated this piece to make it clearer when the lowest levels of house building were.

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