Could 2015 be the year of the housebuilder?

Wayne Gradwell from Persimmon Homes wants to ride the wave of positivity in the housing market.

And developers in Yorkshire want to get in on the act, as they hope to make 2015 a bumper year for housebuilding.

According to statistics from the Department for Communities and Local Government, a total of 137,010 homes were started in the 12 months to December 2014, a 10 per cent increase from the 12 months to December 2013. This is 25 per cent below the peak in the year to December 2007, but up 82 per cent compared with the trough in the year to June 2009.

Persimmon homes, which has developments throughout the county, including Kirklees, said it wanted to kick on and work together with councils to fill the housing shortfall.

Nationally in 2014, the company acquired a further 26,822 plots of land with 9,386 successfully converted. In total the group, which trades under the brand names Persimmon Homes, Charles Church and Westbury Partnerships, completed 13,509 houses.

Managing director of the company Wayne Gradwell said: “We are well aware of the need for housing across the UK and will be working hard to achieve planning permission across the region to enable us to deliver new homes to those who badly need them.

“We would ask local authorities to work in partnership with us to ensure these new homes are delivered as quickly as possible.”

It is not just house starts that are up, as government statistics also show house completions for the December quarter 2014 were 30,760 – eight percent above their level in the same quarter a year ago.

This is welcome news to the UK economy, as both the CBI and the British Chambers of Commerce warned recently that 240,000 homes a year would need to be built to solve the UK’s chronic housing shortage.

Katja Hall, CBI deputy director general, had warned last September: “A perfect storm is brewing in the housing market.

“With demographic changes and demand currently dramatically outstripping supply, now is the time for action. Political parties of all colours have made the right noises on the need for more homes, but without serious action the ambition to own a home will become more and more out of reach to ordinary people.”