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First-time buyers have been left high and dry after the number of cheaper homes plunged under the Tories.

Just 7,245 new affordable homes to buy were funded by the government last year - down from 20,298 in 2009/10.

Official figures show the number of those homes completed fell for four years in a row after the Tories took power, and hit a low point of 4,280 in 2015/16.

It comes despite Theresa May declaring in January that it was her “personal mission to restore the dream of home-ownership”.

Labour claimed 77,000 fewer affordable homes to buy had been built than if construction had continued at the 2009/10 rate.

(Image: PA)

Shadow Housing Secretary John Healey said: “Theresa May and the Conservatives have talked big but delivered little for those locked out of home-ownership.

“Ministers have slashed direct help for first-time buyers on middle incomes by cutting funding for low-cost homes such as shared ownership.”

The figures are for affordable homes to buy that were funded by either Homes England or the Greater London Authority.

They mainly cover “shared ownership” homes, where buyers take out a mortgage on part of their property and pay rent on the rest.

Some 20,298 were completed in 2009/10, the earliest year for which figures were available - followed by 16,726 in 2010/11, 15,144 in 2011/12, 14,753 in 2012/13, 8,710 in 2013/14, 12,257 in 2014/15, 4,280 in 2015/16, 5,864 in 2016/17 and 7,245 in 2017/18.

It comes after a Chartered Institute of Housing report in May found government investment in affordable housing had been slashed from £4.2bn in 2009/10 to £483m in 2016/17.

(Image: Alamy)

The CIH warned there was also a dramatic fall in social rented homes - from 31,000 in 2009/10 to fewer than 1,000 last year.

CIH deputy chief executive Gavin Smart said: “We desperately need to reverse this trend.

"Ministers should take an urgent look at rebalancing the housing budget away from the private market towards affordable housing, prioritising social rent.

"They’ve got a golden opportunity to kickstart this process with the long-awaited social housing green paper.”

The Housing Ministry blamed the fall on a “large spike” in homes being finished in 2009/10 at the end of a housebuilding programme.

A spokesman said: "Over 378,000 affordable homes have been built since 2010, and in the last seven years more have been completed in the seven before 2010.

“We are determined to do more to build the homes our country needs and we are investing £9bn in affordable properties, including for social rent.”

Overall 41,530 new affordable homes of all kinds were delivered in 2016/17 - the second-lowest figure since current records began in 2008.