The number of homes completed in England in the three months to September was 43,290, a 1% fall on the previous quarter and a 4% decrease on the same period a year ago, according to the latest data from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

The department, led by housing secretary Michael Gove, adds that the number of homes where building work has started in the three-month period was 42,400, a 5% fall compared to last quarter and a 16% increase when compared to the same period a year ago.

However, in the year to September an estimated 182,380 new homes were completed, an increase of 26% compared on a year ago.

And 175,650 estimated new homes were started in the year to September, a 43% increase compared to the year to the previous 12 months.

The department says: “The sharp decrease in starts and completions seen in the beginning of the 2020-21 period reflects the restrictions introduced during Spring 2020 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The sharp increase at the end of 2020 mirrors the relaxation of these national restrictions. Starts and completions continued to increase to the March quarter of 2021, to their highest levels since the beginning of the index in 2007 and have since decreased in both the June and September quarter of 2021.”

It points out that annual new home starts increased from 2003-04 until reaching a peak of 183,600 in 2007.

Starts fell sharply during the downturn to a low of 75,350 in the year to June 2009.

The ministry adds that housing starts have experienced some periods of growth since then, averaging around 149,000 in recent years.

It adds its data covers around 80% of house building in England.

The government has set a target of building 300,000 homes a year in the UK by the mid-2020s.

Last May, the government announced a planning bill in the Queen’s Speech, which it said would be the biggest overhaul to building rules in a generation that would ease controls in England and boost housebuilding.

It outlined a new traffic light system, with the UK divided up by local councils into areas designated for growth, protection, or renewal.

In growth areas, current planning restrictions will be largely swept away to speed construction.

But new housing secretary Gove, who replaced Robert Jenrick in September, told MPs in November he would rethink areas of the bill and would look at scrapping housing targets, putting more homes on brownfield sites and building more houses in the north.