Restrictions have halved the number of houses being built across parts of the West Midlands

Across parts of the Black Country and Staffordshire 300 homes were finished between April and June this year – a 56 per cent fall on the 690 that were completed in the same period in 2019.

And in the 12 months to June 2020 there were significant decreases in the number of homes built across the West Midlands.

According to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), 140 homes were completed in Sandwell, a drop of 68 per cent on the previous year.

Wolverhampton saw 500 homes finished, down four per cent on the year to June 2019, while in Stafford the number of completed homes fell 29 per cent to 520.

No figures have been published for Walsall.

Dudley was the only part of the region to see a significant increase in the number of homes finished in the last year, with 500 homes built at a rise of 61 per cent.

In the early stages of the national lockdown starting in March many construction firms suspended work for four weeks, before remobilising sites with limited capacity.

West Midlands Mayor Andy Street has set a target of 215,000 new homes by 2031. He says that prior to the pandemic the region's rate of housebuilding had doubled in eight years to just under 17,000 in 2019.

And across England the number of new homes fell to 16,460 in the three months to June, down 59 per cent from the same period last year.

Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick last month announced a £12 billion investment plan into affordable housing over the next eight years, aimed at supporting the building of 180,000 affordable homes for ownership and rent.

An MHCLG spokesman said the ministry was "determined" to build more houses quicker, adding it was overhauling the planning system and providing new investment into housing.

The figures account for new-builds only, built by private developers, housing associations and local authorities.