Under 100,000 new homes in 2009

Source: Exec Digital UK

Date :06/10/2008 09:39:08

The number of new homes built is expected to drop below 100,000 next year.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has reported a swift drop in new builds in both the public and private sector. In the period June to September, building rates dropped at their fastest rate for seven years.

"The outlook for the construction industry is extremely bleak with the previously strong infrastructure sector now unlikely to step in as the downturn in property markets resonates,” said Senior RICS Economist Oliver Gilmartin.

The RICS survey has been going for 14 years, and overall construction rates are declining at the fastest rate the survey has ever seen. The government’s plan to have two million new homes built by 2016 seems ever-further out of reach, as the target requires an annual average of 200,000 new homes to be built.

"A rapid solution to the log jam in credit markets is necessary to limit the severity of the current downturn,” said Gilmartin.