Insurance News Archive

House building falls by over half

Government house building figures reveal that there was a 58 per cent decline in new construction starts in the final quarter of 2008 compared to the same period the year before.

Work began on an estimated 16,300 homes in England in the final three months of the year, while commencements of private housing building work were down by 64 per cent for the quarter against 2007 figures.

If the current trend continues, the government will only manage to build a third of the two million new homes that are needed by 2016, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors warns.

"The current financial crisis is making it almost impossible for developers to get the loan finance needed to deliver the UK's housing needs for the future," the organisation says.

Last week, the figures from the Office of National Statistics showed new orders for construction fell by nine per cent in the final quarter of the year, with just 28,572 applications.

20 Feb 2009