The number of new homes started in the three months to October was 15% higher than in the previous quarter, a report from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) said.

The report will raise hopes that Britain is beginning to cope with a housing crisis which has seen the number of new homes created fall way behind demand.

But the OFPM added that the quarter-on-quarter rise was in part due to one-off factors.

Houses on which construction was begun in June was "very low", as the World Cup and Golden Jubilee stalled a number of projects.

Year on year, the rise in housing starts was 2%.

England leads boom

The official figures suggested that 15,300 housing projects were started in the three months to October.

An almost equal number, 15,500, were completed.

The figures cover Great Britain as a whole but, when broken down, show a particularly strong rise in England's building activity.

In England, total new starts were up 20% on the previous three months, and 3% higher than the same period a year ago.

The high level of building activity tallied with data from mortgage lenders suggesting a continued appetite for house buying.

Latest figures from the Nationwide building society suggested Britain's house prices rose by 2% in November, pushing the annual rate of increase up to 25.5% - the fastest rate of increase for 13 years.