A further 154 homes for Ebbsfleet Garden City have been approved as groundworks begin on more than 470 other new properties this month.

The latest planning permission was given to David Wilson Homes for a new development in Castle Hill, Eastern Quarry.

The news coincided with work starting on sites for a further 473 homes in the garden city - and a survey revealing a UK-wide deepening housing crisis and increasing concerns from homebuyers.

Countryside Homes returns to Springhead Park for the first time in four years and has started groundwork for 123 homes in the second phase of its development there.

Redrow is on site to build 180 homes at its Ebbsfleet Green development with the first show home almost complete.

Charles Church has also started groundworks for its phase of 170 units.

Earlier this year, planning permission was also granted for a new 420-pupil primary school in Castle Hill. It is expected to open in September next year.

Paul Spooner, interim chief executive at Ebbsfleet Development Corporation, said the latest development of 154 homes, ranging from one to five-bedroomed properties, was a "fantastic contribution" to the continuing growth of the garden city.

“With another three developers already carrying out groundwork at Ebbsfleet Green, Eastern Quarry and Springhead Park we are seeing real momentum in the pace at which new homes will be delivered," he added.

Springhead Park is designed as a modern take on the traditional village, offering a choice of well-designed homes set in landscaped spaces. The new phase will include a wide range of house designs from two bedroom maisonettes to two, three and four bedroom houses and suiting a range of home buyers and lifestyles.

Each home is designed to offer light and airy interior accommodation to maximise space, along with the high standards of specification that Countryside is known for.

Of the 123 homes being built by Countryside, 25% will be affordable housing.

Iain McPherson, managing director of New Homes and Communities South at Countryside, said: “We are pleased to say that work is under way to build the next phase at Springhead Park and we anticipate these homes will be available to buyers this summer.

"We are proud to be leading the way in the delivery of Ebbsfleet Garden City, creating much needed new housing for north Kent and shaping a city of the future.”

Ebbsfleet Garden City is earmarked for 15,000 new homes due to be built in a series of sustainable, mixed-use communities. Government funding will contribute towards investment in infrastructure, employment opportunities, affordable housing and additional services such as high speed broadband.

Countryside has already completed an earlier phase of homes at Springhead Park, including community facilities such as the Eastgate Centre, which provides a place for residents to meet and hold events.

The go-ahead to David Wilson Homes coincided with the results of the Homeowner Survey 2016.

It revealed 86% of people in the south east are concerned about the ability of first-time buyers to get on the property ladder, with 83% concerned about saving for a deposit.

The survey, now in its fourth year and conducted by YouGov on behalf of Homeowners Alliance and BLP Insurance, polls over 2,000 adults in the UK on their housing concerns and the latest trends affecting homeowners and those aspiring to own.

Paula Higgins, chief executive of the Homeowners Alliance, said: “Despite a blizzard of government initiatives aimed at helping homeowners, the housing crisis is deepening across the country, with ever more non-homeowners wanting their own home, and ever greater concern about the lack of housing.

"Many government policies have boosted demand for homes, but what this survey shows is that the real problem is the desperate shortage of houses.

"Until the government tackles the fundamental issue that we just don’t have enough good quality homes, the housing crisis will continue to deepen and a generation will continue to have their dreams of homeownership crushed.”

A new website has launched for Ebbsfleet Garden City at ebbsfleetdc.org.uk