New housing figures confirm Britain is building again, Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said announced.

The latest statistics reveal starts on new homes in 2013 totalled 122,590, up by 23% on the previous year, and the highest since 2007.

Despite the poor weather conditions this winter, work on new homes in the last 3 months of 2013 was also up by 23% compared to the same period in 2012.

Mr Pickles said the housing market inherited in 2010 was broken, and fixing it was an essential part of the government’s long-term economic plan.

The government is prioritising limited financial resources and ensuring progress continues to be made across the whole housing market, including:

• helping people onto the housing ladder

• since 2011 almost 58,000 households have been helped onto the housing ladder, with over 38,000 in new build properties through Help to Buy and earlier schemes; housebuilders are using this momentum in the housing market to increase output, because if people can buy homes, builders will build them

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• building more affordable homes

• almost 100,000 affordable homes have been delivered through the affordable homes programme, which is on track to deliver 170,000 new homes by 2015

• helping small businesses

• construction orders are growing at their fastest rate for 10 years, providing a boost to thousands of small businesses that supply building materials to developers; almost a million independent firms are involved in the construction industry, accounting for 20% of all small and medium-sized companies

• creating jobs in construction

• housebuilders are taking on new apprentices, trainees and graduates, while new research by the Construction Industry Training Board predicts 182,000 construction jobs will be created over the next 5 years

• housing registrations highest since 2007

• the National House Building Council recently reported housing registrations rose by 30% in England in 2013, and in London by 60%, the highest annual total since their records began 26 years ago; registrations across the country are at their highest since 2007

• housing construction at its highest level since 2007

• new orders in residential construction have risen to their highest level since 2007, according to the Office for National Statistics

Mr Pickles said: "This government is fixing the broken housing market we inherited in 2010. Last year we built the most homes since 2007, and even the appalling weather conditions this winter have not stopped our hardy builders from getting the job done. That means an increase in small firms benefiting from the surge in construction orders, and more business confidence in the economy.

"None of this would have been possible without our tough action to cut the deficit and keep interest rates low. We have also prioritised resources to increase the number of affordable homes, and help credit-worthy buyers onto the housing ladder.

"But there's still more to do, and improving the housing market will remain a vital part of our long-term economic plan."

(CD)