The number of UK housing starts this year could drop to its lowest level since 1945, according to the Construction Products Association (CPA).
The organisation forecasts that work will begin on just 147,000 houses, a fall of 27% on 2007. The private construction sector will be hardest hit, declining 30%, reaching its lowest point since 1992. Social housing construction is proving more resilient but, says the CPA, is unlikely to keep to the government’s target for it to gear up to build 45,000 new properties a year by 2011.
Infrastructure work is expected to continue to grow and Olympics projects and the Building Schools for the Future programme will also bring the construction sector some relief. But overall building activity will be down 1.3% with industrial building and RMI work also expected to dip.
CPA chief executive Michael Ankers warned that the downturn could hit construction sector capacity and leave it unable to meet the government’s longer-term housing targets.
He said the government should “respond urgently” by easing access to mortgages for first-time buyers and ensuring Bank of England interest rate cuts feed through to high-street rates.
