The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), working with local authorities, developers and registered providers, has reported another strong year of delivery in 2013/14.
An early assessment of the HCA’s year end figures shows that while moving quickly to allocate new investment during the year, the Agency has also met or exceeded its key output targets for 2013/14.
As well as supporting businesses and jobs by exceeding the target for employment floorspace by over 46% and leveraging over £1.3bn of private sector investment, the Agency also anticipates reporting a strong performance on housing starts and completions, when official statistics are published in mid-June.
Nearly 16,500 homes have been sold through Help To Buy in the first 11 months since the launch of the equity loan scheme. Full year figures will be confirmed later this month.
Enough land was disposed of to support delivery of over 5,940 new homes – 25% higher than target – while over 114 ha of previously developed land was brought back into productive use.
In 2013/14, through its main investment programmes, the HCA:
- Disposed of enough land for 5,944 homes, against a target of 4,771; and for 263,182 sq m of employment floorspace against a target of 194,028 sq m
- Created over 320,000 sq m of office, commercial and employment floorspace, supporting new and expanding businesses and jobs, against a target of 220,033 sq m.
- Brought 114 ha of previously developed land back into use for housing or commercial development, against a target of 98 ha.
- Delivered potential for the creation or continuation of 6,999 jobs in the construction sector and supporting industries.
- Attracted £1.38bn of private sector investment into the sector.
Homes and Communities Agency Chief Executive Andy Rose, said: “As a delivery agency we are rightly judged on our performance against targets. So I am delighted that along with our partners we have once again achieved a strong performance and continued to help meet government aspirations for housing and growth.
“We anticipate reporting a strong performance on housing starts and completions and we have responded to the government’s ambition to release surplus public land into the market to accelerate the development of new homes and boost local growth.
“This puts us in a strong delivery position for the forthcoming year, when we will also be preparing for new programmes and approaches from 2015 onwards. With challenging targets, we will continue to need the support of the wider sector in creating successful places with homes and jobs.”
The HCA’s total programme investment for the year was as planned at £2.4bn.
These results will now be audited and formally reported in June. Full details of housing starts and completions cannot be reported until June due to their status as official statistics.