Housing starts down to lowest post-war level

17 2008
New research from the Construction Products Association (CPA) has today (June 17th) suggested that housing starts are at their lowest level since 1945.

According to the organisation, just 147,000 new properties have been built in Great Britain so far this year, which is 27 per cent less than in 2007.

The CPA has also warned that private sector starts are down by 30 per cent to their lowest figure since 1992, while the construction industry as a whole is set to shrink by 1.3 per cent during 2008.

Stewart Baseley, executive chairman at the House Builders' Federation (HBF), said: "We have been warning for months of the dangers of allowing this downturn to continue.

"Today's report is further evidence of the urgent need to get some confidence and fluidity back into the housing market.

"If the government wants to deliver the homes the country needs, and to avoid the housing market dragging the wider economy into recession, it must act now."

The government has set itself a target of constructing two million new homes by 2016, with a million carbon-neutral properties added by 2020.
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