House building peaked in 1968 when 413,700 new dwellings were completed. In the latest 12 months statistics available (to March 2014 source National Statistics) there were 133,650 housing starts in England and completions totalled a truly staggering low of 112,630 (same period, same source). In the latest figures.
According to housing charity Shelter the UK needs to build at least 250,000 homes a year, but given the scale of the current problem that seems a gross under estimate. Shelter probably realises that there simply wouldn't be sufficient building workers to construct more than 250,000.
The number of completions is currently at the lowest level (in peace time) since 1924.
Source: A Century of Change: Trends in UK statistics since 1900 House of Commons resaearch paper 99/111 published 21 December 1999.
Jonathan Brind