For the first time, more than 1,000 properties have been completed either from scratch or through conversions – beating the boom era which created council estates.
Numbers have been climbing steadily in recent years and Calderdale Council recorded 1,005 for the 12 months ending in February.
Estate agent John Churchill, of William Brown, Sowerby Bridge, said high levels of building activity were likely to continue for some time because Calderdale has such good road and rail links.
He is involved with Pennine Housing 2000 in marketing shared ownership homes off Sowerby New Road.
"The scheme won't be available to all but many people are surprised by what's on offer and there are some very clever products that have helped numerous buyers move into their first home," he said.
In the post-war building boom from 1945 to 1965, 4,382 council houses and 1,846 privately owned houses were built in Halifax, including Moor Bottom, at Pellon, Brow Bottom and central Mixenden and Illingworth Moor.
During the same period, a total of 2,875 were completed in Brighouse, 1,089 in Elland, 334 in Hebden Bridge and Mytholmroyd, 177 in Ripponden, 744 in Sowerby Bridge, 183 at Heptonstall and Colden, and 423 in Todmorden – a total of 12,053 properties or an average of 602 a year.
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, hundreds were built at Jumples, Mixenden, Pellon Lane and Illingworth Road.
Now the challenge created by the new building boom is to create homes that many more people can afford to buy, according to Calder Valley Labour MP Chris McCafferty.
There is also a need for more houses with gardens rather than apartments, some of which have been sold to investors and are standing empty, she said.
Mrs McCafferty said Calderdale was an increasingly attractive place in which to live and work, and she fully expected the demand for new properties to continue to grow.
"Developers all over Calderdale have made a lot of money and now is the time for the to make sure that a much higher proportion of new homes are genuinely affordable – that should be the priority," she said.
Council leader John Ford (Con, Skircoat) said the planning committee would have to take the record number of completions into account when considering future applications, particularly where they were on green field sites.
"But I don't think building more affordable houses should be the priority – there should be a balance of provision or developers could be frightened off," he said.
Phil Bradby, of Mango Homes, said the shortage of developable land was the main reason why houses in some areas were so expensive.
"We have developed many properties in Hebden Bridge, where prices are among the highest in Calderdale, and we are now working with St Vincent's Housing Association to build apartments under the Government's homebuy scheme, which would be sold at 75 per cent of their market value. This has to be a good way to help people who are struggling to afford buy a home."
l Public consultation on house building targets throughout the Yorkshire and Humber region ends tomorrow.
Until now the Calderdale target had been set at 450 completions every year but if the regional blueprint is approved, as expected, the number will rise to 580 in the period up to 2016 and 670 a year between 2016 and 2021.
michael.peel@halifaxcourier.co.uk