The number of registrations for new homes in the UK last year climbed 1% to hit a 13-year high, but still below the government’s target. 

According to the National House Building Council (NHBC), 161,022 homes were registered to be built with the organisation last year, the highest level since the beginning of the financial crisis in 2007. The number of affordable or rental homes surged 13% to 48,936. 

The government is looking for private housebuilders, housing associations and councils to accelerate the rate of annual construction to 300,000 per year by 2025.

Shelter, a housing charity, noted that the last time housebuilding had reached that level wa in 1969, when almost half was social housing issued by councils. 

Polly Neate, the chief executive of Shelter, said: “Relying on big developers to build unaffordable homes means the government is falling well short of their ambitious housebuilding targets … Right now, only a tiny fraction of new-build homes are genuinely affordable social rent homes – a paltry 6,287 were delivered last year.”

The NHBC data is based on builders r4esponsible for roughly 80% of all homes being constructed in the UK. Builders are required to register houses with the NHBC, or another warranty provider prior to starting their work or project. The period between registration and completion of work usually accumulates to around 15 months. 

Last year, growth was mainly boosted by a sudden surge in houses in London, where new home registrations increased by 37% to 21,726. 

The Commonwealth Games athletes’ village in Birmingham is included in the new housing projects across the UK. The village will be converted into 1,400 homes after the games are over in 2022; 6,500 homes on the site of what used to be army barracks in Waterbeach near Cambridge; and 518 at Bellway’s Eastside Quarter in Bexleyheath, Kent.