HCA and RICS add to upbeat housing news
12 April 2013More positive housing sector news has been reported, this time by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
The HCA said its year-end figures show that it had met or exceeded key output targets over the last year.
This includes helping to unlock stalled housing development sites by providing access to investment finance - through the government's Get Britain Building programme. It has entered into contracts on 182 schemes, of which 170 have started on site to provide more than 11,000 homes.
It has also disposed of enough land for 4,704 homes, against a target of 3,370, as well as estimating it had created or maintained nearly 12,000 jobs in the construction and supporting industries.
Meanwhile, the RICS has said the volume of UK homes sold reached a three-year high in March as increased market confidence translated into sales.
Chartered surveyors reported selling an average of 17.4 homes over the previous three months, the highest since March 2010. And more surveyors are predicting sales will rise further over the next quarter.
The announcements follow positive statements by the Construction Products Association and NHBC.
