Number of homes under construction slashed

Posted: 20 Feb 2009 08:30:47 GMT

The final quarter of 2008 saw the number of new homes under construction fall to just 16,300; just 42 per cent of the figure recorded for Q4 of 2007, the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) said.

With fewer homes on the market there is a chance that first-time buyers will soon be forced from the market not as a result of poor lending figures but because of rising prices caused by under-supply.

First-time buyers hoping to find an affordable property once the lending market begins to pick up once more may need to look online for a home, as doing so can cut out an expensive estate agent, meaning the potential problems of under-supply might be avoided.

A spokesperson for the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, Gillian Charlesworth, commented on the figures: "If the current downward trend continues the government will be on target to build less than one third of the two million new homes needed by 2016."

Further figures from the CLG pointed to a slower fall in the number of completed properties so far, with 2008 seeing 19 per cent fewer homes built compared to the year previous.



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