The number of new dwellings completed in the first quarter of 2024 was down 17% year on year to 38,400 units.

This ranked as the worst quarterly delivery performance for completions since the start of 2016 setting a trajectory of just 153,000 new homes likely be completed in 2024 – half of the previous and new government’s annual housing delivery target.

The poor figures have prompted calls for direct Government support to boost SME house builder numbers which have shrivelled from around 12,500 back in the eighties to just 2,500 today.

Paul Rickard, Managing Director Pocket Living, said: “The figures released by the ONS this morning have laid bare the true scale of the challenge facing the new government in meeting its housebuilding ambitions.

“Changes to the planning system and new accelerator taskforces will not in themselves deliver the homes needed.

“We need to address the critical factor in play here – that we simply no longer have enough builders building new homes in this country. Yes, the volume house builders have a key role to play in increasing output, but what we really need is an SME housebuilder renaissance to get the sector back to the kind of delivery levels last seen in the 1980s.

“The benefits of doing so are clear, for if the 1.5 million new homes were a target in the 1960s and 70s, then almost half of them would have been built by SMEs compared to the current projections of less than 150,000 by 2029.

“In order to achieve this we need to consider radical measures like selling off the £18 billion Homes England Help to Buy loan book to both support the SME sector and deliver affordable housing at scale.

“Doing nothing is not an option and on this trajectory the government’s objective of delivering 1.5 million new homes by 2029 is doomed to failure.”

Melanie Leech, Chief Executive, British Property Federation said: “The housebuilding figures for the first quarter underline the scale of the challenge in delivering the Government’s target of 1.5m homes by 2029.

“We will not reach and sustain this level of house building nor meet the needs of individuals and families by focusing on homes for sale alone; we need to also supercharge the build-to-rent sector and look at how to unlock the delivery of affordable housing of all tenures.

“For affordable homes the challenge is often viability, and we have called for Government to increase the level of subsidy available which would in turn unlock more private capital to work in partnership with housing associations.”