page_title: Housing in the United Kingdom
section_title: Supply and construction
hierarchical_section_title: Housing in the United Kingdom / Supply and construction
caption_attribution_description: English: Housing starts in England 1969-2016&#91;1&#93;
context_page_description: Housing in the United Kingdom represents the largest non-financial asset class in the UK; its overall net value passed the £5 trillion mark in 2014. About 30% of homes are owned outright by their occupants, and a further 40% are owner-occupied on a mortgage. About 18% are social housing of some kind, and the remaining 12% are privately rented.
  The UK ranks in the top half of EU countries with regard to rooms per person, amenities, and quality of housing. However, the cost of housing as a proportion of income is higher than average among EU countries, and the increasing cost of housing in the UK may constitute a housing crisis for some, especially for those in low income brackets or in high-cost areas such as London.
context_section_description: The Labour government suspected that there might be supply-side problems in the construction sector, and in 2006 commissioned the Callcutt Review of House Building Delivery, which was published in 2007. The Callcutt report noted the failure of the home building industry to increase the supply in response to price signals.
  There was a fall in the numbers of house completions after the 2008 recession, but by 2015 it was back up to 169,000.
  According to the Centre for Ageing Better 21% of homes in the UK were built before 1919, 38% before 1946, and only 7% after 2000, making the  UK housing stock the oldest in the European Union.
  Local planning authorities are required to continuously maintain sufficient land to meet housing needs for five years. It is estimated 250,000 new homes are needed each year just to keep up with the demand of the UK's continually growing population.
caption: Housing starts in England 1969-2016[41]
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