Separately, figures from standards body the National House Building Council show falling house completions.
The much-cited fall in house completions to 140,000 last year had nothing to do with planning and everything to do with the economy.
This when the department's own statistics so vividly demonstrate how the postwar record for house completions came in the 1960s with every scheme for the delivery of the homes coming through our planning system.
The current government was attacked in January for having the lowest level of house completions since 1924.
The group said it had secured 54% of its housing completion target for the year.
Income multiple: first-time buyers' median mortgage principal as a multiple of their annual income (at the time of housing completion), four-quarter moving average.
Mortage payments as % of income: first-time buyers' median mortgage interest payments as % of income (at the time of housing completion).
However, with more support to the sector, much more could be achieved towards achieving the government's housing completion targets".
Housing completions rose 1.3percentt.
April housing completions rose 4.7percentto to an annual rate of 1.533 million units.
