Are George Osborne's plans to kickstart housebuilding finally starting to work?

Last year there were more new homes constructed in England than in any year since 2008, according to newly-published figures from the DCLG. This is good news but, as you can see in this chart, there is still a long, long way to go to get back to previous peaks.

However, for me the most interesting thing in the chart above is the red slice that denotes homes built by housing associations. For in 2015 they built 30,200 new homes in England – the biggest total since 1995, and only 700 or so short of the biggest number on record.

The Chancellor has put an increasing amount of cash and pressure behind housing associations to build more, not to mention extending the Right to Buy scheme to the sector. Too early to say for sure, but this may be a sign that the pressure is starting to pay off.