West Yorkshire housing stats show affordable housing on the up, while prices remain low
West Yorkshire Combined Authority has released data for housing numbers, affordable housing supply and starts, private rents, and house prices for the year 2023/24.
Headline stats include:
- Net additional dwellings for the region are at one of the highest levels in 23 years
- Affordable housing supply represented the highest year for affordable housing completions in West Yorkshire since 2000
- Private rents in November 2024 were on average £841 a month in West Yorkshire
- The average house price is around £215,000 in West Yorkshire as of November 2024
Net additional dwellings
This figure tracks changes in the size of housing stock due to new-builds, conversions of houses into flats, changes of use, and demolitions.
In 2023/24, West Yorkshire saw a net increase in dwellings of 8,393. This is the highest delivery since 2018/19 and one of the highest levels for 23 years.
West Yorkshire accounts for 3.8% of all net additional dwellings in the country, which is in line with its average number before the 2008 financial crisis, which it has struggled to recover from.
All local authorities had an increase in the level of net additional dwellings, apart from Wakefield – however, it was noted that Wakefield had a significant rise throughout the 2014-19 period.
Overall, Leeds had the largest increase, rising from 2,697 to 4,327 (60%) and the highest level registered since data first became available (2001/02).
The report from WYCA noted that “Despite the improvements in 2023/24, net additional dwellings per capita for West Yorkshire remain below England’s average.
“This is likely connected with the challenges developers face across West Yorkshire, such as brownfield sites requiring significant remediation or other issues which challenge viability.”
Affordable housing supply
The report stated that 2023/24 represented the highest year for affordable housing completions in West Yorkshire since 2000, with 1,766 additional houses classified as affordable, up from 1,429 in the previous year.
This level of delivery accounts for 2.8% of all affordable houses delivered in England.
The supply of affordable housing completions increased in line with the increases seen in net additional homes, however if you drill down into the statistics, the situation isn’t as straightforward.
Leeds’ position has remained static, despite Leeds having a significant increase in net additional dwellings, and Kirklees and Wakefield (where net additional dwellings fell) saw the largest increases in affordable houses.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s statistics for affordable housing supply include social rent, affordable rent, intermediate rent, affordable home ownership, shared ownership, and First Homes.
Affordable housing starts
This figure recovered from last year to 1,326 starts, up from 1,143, which accounts for 3.1% of all affordable housing starts in England.
This continues to be below the almost 1,500 homes started between 2018-2020, which has been attributed to post-COVID backlog issues and macroeconomic factors such as high interest rates.
WYCA noted it is “actively working with registered providers of social housing across West Yorkshire to understand current delivery capacity in the affordable housing pipeline as well as funding and other gaps.”
Private rents
In-house estimates from WYCA show that private rents in November 2024 were on average £841 a month in West Yorkshire, below England’s average of £1,369 a month.
All five districts have rents below the national average, with Leeds having the highest at £1,097 a month, followed by Kirklees at £687 a month.
House prices
Again, the combined authority has used in-house estimates from November 2024 to compile the data on this topic, and it shows that the average house price is around £215,000 in West Yorkshire.
The West Yorkshire figure is £91,000 (-30%) lower than the national average of around £306,000.
Average prices in Leeds reached £249,000 but are still below England’s average, although in the last 12 months, prices grew faster in West Yorkshire (by 5.9%) than England (3.0%).
Gigabit capable internet coverage
The report also covered internet capabilities.
According to Think Broadband analysis, as of January 2025, there were 92.8% of premises with gigabit-capable internet coverage in West Yorkshire, including 86.6% with full fibre.
This figure is higher than the 74.4% average seen across England.
West Yorkshire is, therefore, the Combined Authority with the highest rate of premises with full fibre, followed by Greater Manchester (83.0%), and West Midlands (81.7%).
