However, property development remains at roughly half the pre-crash average. At 29,510, private enterprise development starts accounted for +7% of new homes built in the quarter to June, although housing association builds fell by -3%, with the marginally better figures for completions of +11% and +3% respectively.

The Department of Communities and Local Government figures showed 110,530 homes were started in the 12 months to June this year, 7% up on last year, but 40% down on the March 2006 house building peak.

House building hotspots include the M5 corridor from Devon up to Worcestershire and the areas north of London green belt in Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.

Starts activity is also rising in some London boroughs stretching along the A303 through Hampshire into Wiltshire, with parts of Leicestershire, south Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire and Derbyshire.

The lowest starts lie in a band stretching from Birmingham up to Manchester and into North Yorkshire, then Norfolk and Kent.

Where the ratio of flats to houses being build hit 50/50 in 2005/6, the proportion of flats is now just under a quarter in 2012/13.