House Builds Up 'But More Needed'

This recent article Shelina Begum of Manchester Evening News on 16th of August, 2013 shows the growth of new house builds and how it is gathering pace.

House builders in England are starting more new properties than at any other time in the past three years, in further evidence that the market revival is gathering pace.

House builders in England are starting more new properties than at any other time in the past three years, in further evidence that the market revival is gathering pace.

But despite the recent pick-up, housing charity Shelter warned that the country is still building less than half the number of new houses it needs each year to tackle the "chronic shortage of homes".

Around 29,510 new homes were started between April and June, marking the highest quarterly total seen since 2010, Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) figures showed.

The number of new house builds begun has jumped by one third year-on-year, with particularly strong areas of growth seen along the M5 from Devon up to Worcestershire, as well as Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire, the report said.

Growth was not confined to the South, with housing starts also strong in Cumbria, South Yorkshire and Lancashire.

The number of housing starts was found to be weaker in a band running from Birmingham to Manchester and spreading across to North Yorkshire.

The figures also showed that 106,820 house builds have been completed over the last year, which is still less than half of the 250,000 annual total Shelter believes is required to meet demand.

A string of reports have pointed to the housing market bursting back into life in recent months, amid a sharp increase in mortgage availability and rising home buyer and seller confidence.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) reported on Monday that house prices are rising at their fastest rate since 2006, while mortgage lenders said that first-time buyer numbers have soared to their highest levels since 2007.

Today's figures have been boosted by Government measures to give home buyers a helping hand including its Help to Buy scheme, which allows both home movers and first-time buyers to purchase a new-build home with a 5% deposit. More than 10,000 reservations for homes were made in the first four months of the initiative
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Another scheme called Funding for Lending, which was introduced a year ago, has also been credited with generally increasing housing market activity as lenders have slashed their mortgage rates.

Communities minister Brandon Lewis said the figures "clearly show Government action bringing confidence back into the housing market and getting Britain building again".

Housing starts are now 73% higher than a trough seen in spring 2009, although they are still 40% below a peak of activity seen just before the economic downturn.

Kay Boycott, Shelter's director of communications, policy and campaigns, said: "While the Government may trumpet these figures as a growth story, what they really show is that we are still building less than half of the 250,000 homes we need each year to meet demand.

"In an overheating market, house prices are rising at their fastest rate since 2006, yet today's figures show that we're building just over half of the number of homes we were then.

"Unless we see radical action from the Government to tackle our chronic shortage of homes, house prices and rents will quickly rise even further out of reach for millions of people across the country struggling to find a stable home of their own."

Article Source:  http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/business/property/house-builds-up-but-more-5737690