The number of new homes started in Huddersfield has fallen by a fifth – despite national figures showing house building at its highest level since the financial crash.

Data from the Department for Communities and Local Government showed there were 630 new homes started across the town in the year to March, 2015. That’s down by 19.2% from 780 started in 2013-14.

Just 2.3 new homes were started across Huddersfield for every 1,000 existing dwellings compared with 7.9 per 1,000 existing houses across England and Wales.

Just 9,560 homes were built between April 2014 and March 2015 in Yorkshire and the Humber, new government figures show today. That is 11,140 homes short of 20,700 - widely accepted as the number of new homes needed in Yorkshire and the Humber to keep up with demand every year.

The National Housing Federation is calling on the new Government to invest in building new homes, including much needed affordable homes for low rent and shared ownership. It highlights that 7,100 new affordable homes are needed each year in Yorkshire and the Humber but that only 1,030 were built.

In the past year housing associations built 1,000 new homes in Yorkshire and the Humber, while local councils built just 30 over the same period.

The number of homes started in England in 2014-15 was at its highest level since the economic downturn. Across England, 140,500 homes were started in the 12 months to March, 2015 – a 5% increase from the previous 12 months.

This is 24% below the peak in the year to December, 2007, but up by 86% compared with the trough in the year to June, 2009.

Jo Allen, Yorkshire spokesman for the National Housing Federation, said: “We have a far reaching housing crisis and at its heart is the reality that not nearly enough homes have been built for a generation or more.

“We need urgent action to get more housing of all types built in Yorkshire and the Humber. Families and young people across the country are crying out for genuinely affordable homes they can rent long term and shared ownership homes to help them on the housing ladder”.

Some 125,110 new homes were completed in the 12 months to March, 2015. This is 11% higher than the previous year, but 29% below the peak level of 12 months ending December, 2007.

Private enterprise housing completions were 8% higher than in the year before while completions by housing associations rose by 24% over the same period.

The highest rates of completions were in East London, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Leicestershire and Norwich. There are also strong levels the West Country.

Areas with the lowest completion rates included districts in Oxfordshire and parts of London.

Completion rates in the 12 months to March, 2015, increased in 208 out of 326 authorities.