Latest official new housing returns show starts up 8% to 32,230 between July and September, compared to the previous quarter.
This is the fastest rate of house building since the crash and was driven by private housing up 10%, compared to public ahead 2%.
Construction of new homes for the 12 months ending September 2013 increased 16% from 101,280 to 117,110.
House building hotspots include Hammersmith and Fulham in London, where several major apartment projects are underway, Southampton, Cambridge and East Devon.
But these improved figures still fail to approach the level of new homes needed to tackle the housing crisis.
Mike Leonard, spokesman for the Get Britain Building Campaign, said: “These improved housing starts figures are clearly very welcome.
“But with housing starts expected to climb to just 130,000 this year, we are still well below the level we need to tackle the housing crisis.
“The Government must still consider what innovative measures it can introduce to boost affordable housing, which is still struggling to get going.
"The focus must also be on increasing the geographical spread and involving SMEs who are missing from the market at this time."
While housing completions rose by 5% 28,850 in the third quarter, annual housing completions in England reached just 107,950 in the 12 months to September 2013, a decrease of 8% compared with the previous 12 months
Housing Minister Kris Hopkins said:Today’s figures show we’re building at the fastest rate since the crash in 2008, more people are securing a place on the housing ladder, and we’re delivering tens of thousands of affordable homes across the whole country.
“But there’s still more to do, and improving the housing market will remain a top priority. That means getting builders back on site, delivering new housing, more jobs and ensuring every hard working family has a place they can call home.”
The minister said he was reassured improvements across the housing market are delivering progress across the whole country.
Fresh housing figures show the highest number of Help to Buy sales were in Leeds, Wiltshire, Milton Keynes and Reading.
Just over 18,050 reservations have now been made in the first seven months of the Help to Buy: Equity Loan and 2000 offers were made in the first month of the Help to Buy: Mortagage Guarantee which began in October.
New figures from the Homes and Communities Agency showed affordable home starts between April and September fell just shy of 13,000. Despite a fall between the second and third quarter, this was more than triple the 3,722 in same six months in 2012.
Almost a quarter of these starts were in London, where construction of new affordable homes jumped seven-fold compared to the same period last year.
Cornwall, Wiltshire, Lewisham and Hackney delivered the most affordable homes in 2012-13
In the third quarter councils sold 2,839 homes, nearly three times the number sold in the same period in 2012. The highest number of Right to Buy sales were in Birmingham, Leeds, Sandwell and Sheffield.
