Fewer affordable homes were built on the Isle of Wight last year, new figures show, despite numbers rising across England.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities figures show 92 affordable homes were completed on the Island in 2022-23 – down from 126 during the same period the year before.

The figures include social and affordable rental properties, affordable home ownership, shared ownership and first homes.

The number of social rent homes, however, has seen a fall in the last decade, with affordable rent now the most common housing for new supply.

Social rental properties are for low-income families and typically cost about 50 per cent of market rents, while affordable housing is provided to low-income earners and can be charged up to 80 per cent of market rents.

On the Isle of Wight, 65 affordable rent homes and 24 shared ownership dwellings were delivered.

Across the country, there were 71,000 affordable dwellings started on site in 2022-23, with 35 of those on the Island.

More than 63,000 affordable homes were delivered across the country as of March 2023 – the highest number since 2014-15 – though a question mark hangs over whether this is adequate and an ambitious house building agenda is needed.