Government figures have shown that starts and completions are increasing, as they have been since 2002/03. During the quarter to June 2005 there were 48,800 housing starts, up 2% on the same period in 2004 in England. There were 40,800 completions during this period, up 5% on the previous year. The twelve months to the end of June 2005 saw starts up 5% to 175,500 and completions up 6% to 156,200 in England. The government has also announced how the £5.5 billion of funding through Regional Housing Pots will be split. It said £3.9 billion would be for social rented housing and low cost homeownership schemes across the regions. The remaining £1.6 billion will be given to local authorities to help improve existing housing with around £700 million used to bring council housing up to a decent standard by 2010. Further details of the government’s HomeBuy scheme have also been revealed. There will be three HomeBuy products: Social HomeBuy, enabling social tenants to buy a share in the property they live in; New Build HomeBuy, enabling people to buy a share in a newly built property and Open Market HomeBuy, enabling people in London, South East and Eastern, regions to …