<b></b>The number of new home completions has slumped to a new low for the second successive year according to House Builders Federation estimates. Whilst the total for 2000 was the lowest peacetime figure since 1924, the total for 2001 is expected to be 4% lower - 162,000 against 169,100. Housebuilders blame a failure of the planning system to allow sufficient homes to be built which is fuelling house price inflation which in turn is stopping moderate income earners to buy homes of their own. The industry says that successive governments have abdicated the responsibility of providing social housing and instead are attempting to force housebuilders to provide it for them.<br>* The number of households in England in mid 2000 has been estimated to be 20.972 million. This is a 3.9% increase on the number of households in 1996. <p></p><p>The percentage increase in the number of households between 1996 to 2000 varies from 1.4% in the north east to 6.1% in London.</p><p>The figures were published in the 2000 mid year household estimates for England which is posted on the DTLR web site at </p><p>www.housing.dtlr.gov.uk/research/hss/index.htm</p><p><br> <br> </p><p>Apartments in Phase 2a of the Greenwich Millennium village, developed by Countryside and Taylor Woodrow, are …