The number of homes under construction in London is at its highest in more than a decade, according to new figures from EGi’s London Residential Research.
Almost 36,000 private homes were under construction at the end of 2014, 39% more than a year earlier, and 45% higher than the previous peak in 2007.
Construction in both inner and outer boroughs increased in equal amounts with around 18,000 homes under construction in each market.
But while building hit a peak, completions started to slow, increasing modestly by 4% year on year to just below 15,000 homes. In the outer boroughs the total dropped below the previous year’s figures.
“This is a supercharged market that is progressing at a faster rate than we have ever witnessed,” said Nigel Evans, head of LRR.
“The low number of completions, which we would have expected to be higher, is due in the main to one factor: towers, which, unlike individual rows of homes, cannot be completed in phases,” he added.
Applications in the system also rose during 2014, up by 46% to nearly 30,000.
The Greater London Authority wants to see 424,000 new homes delivered in the capital over the next ten years.
