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Housebuilding slumped in Wales over the past year as the pandemic impacted the sector.

During 2019-20, the number of new dwellings started stood at 6,224 homes but this fell by 31% to 4,314 over the last financial year.

Meanwhile the number of homes completed fell from 6,037 to 4,616 - a drop of 24%.

This all comes at a time of huge concerns about affordable housing in Wales with fears young people are being priced out of communities.

In England there was also a fall in housebuilding although the slump was not as dramatic as that seen in Wales - with an 11% reduction in completions from 175,250 to 155,960.

The figures for North Wales:

County/Starts/Completions

Gwynedd - 193/ 111

Anglesey - 99/198

Flintshire - 250/442

Conwy - 173/230

Wrexham - 84/93

Denbighshire - 267/159

Across Wales during 2020-21 the rate of new dwellings started was 3.0 per 1,000 existing dwellings. Denbighshire had the highest figure in North Wales with a rate of 6.1.

Ifan Glyn, director of the Federation of Master Builders Cymru, said: 鈥淭he 31% drop in new dwellings started in 2020-21 is not a surprise considering the obvious challenges faced last year.

鈥淗owever, the long term trend is that we are not building enough homes to meet demand with 70,000 households currently on housing waiting lists in Wales. 鈥淢uch more needs to be done to remove the barriers that prevent SME house builders from increasing their output.

鈥淭he planning process is too complex and expensive and there aren鈥檛 enough viable routes to finance for SMEs to get developments off the ground.

鈥淭here have been efforts by Welsh Government and others to help, but it hasn鈥檛 been enough.

鈥淒rastic action is required to reverse the decline in the number and output of SME house builders. Relying on a very small number of PLCs to deliver the homes we need isn鈥檛 working.鈥�

A Welsh Government spokesperson said: 鈥淲e continue to make record levels of investment to stop any slowdown in developments caused by the pandemic.

鈥淲e have not yet set any new build targets, but are pleased that numbers continue to broadly align with our estimates of housing need and demand.

鈥淪ocial housing remains our top priority as we work to deliver our commitment to build 20,000 new low-carbon homes for rent in the social sector this government term.鈥�

Welsh Conservative Shadow Minister for Housing, Janet Finch Saunders MS said: 鈥淭his is a housebuilding crisis of the Labour Government鈥檚 own making, and that crisis is deepening with each year that the new build target is missed.

鈥淭ime and time again, the Labour administration in Cardiff Bay fails to meet their own targets for housebuilding, despite experts denouncing those very targets as inadequate.

鈥淭his continued failure is a hammer blow for young people across Wales, particularly at a time they are being priced out of their communities and unable to get onto the housing ladder.

鈥淲e need a government that can deliver the homes that Wales needs, and Labour ministers need to get serious about housebuilding, and fast.鈥�