Construction of new homes in England displays signs of growth

The construction of new houses in England rose in the first quarter of 2013. The latest quarterly report from the Department of Communities and Local Government showed that the construction of new homes in England increased by 4% on the previous quarter and reached approximately 27370.

The data also showed a rise in the number of houses built in England in Q1 2012 compared to Q4 2012 by 8% to 24900.

Private construction of new homes in England showed that in Q1 2013 growth of 7% on the previous quarter, construction of residential houses in England, housing associations increased by 1% in Q1 2013 from the previous quarter.

The seasonally adjusted number of built private homes in England fell in the 1st quarter of 2013 by 7 % and the number of houses built by housing associations decreased by 9 %.

The report also shows that currently the number of newly started construction of new homes in England by 62% more than in the 1st quarter of 2009, and 44% lower than in Q1 2007. A number of built homes in 49% less than the peak that occurred in the 1 quarter of 2007.

The total number of houses in England, construction of which began in March 2013 over the preceding 12 months was 101920 , which is 3% higher than a year earlier.

Simon Rubinsohn, chief economist at the Royal institution of Chartered surveyors said that the increase in activity in the sector of new housing reflects the increased tone of the construction market and this is reflected in all recent reports on residential real estate in the UK, compiled by the RICS. Index index

Simon Robinson also noticed that last but not least improvement sector of the construction market in the UK is due to the impact of government programmes “Funding Scheme of Crediting”, which was able to take advantage of the developers, as well as other government initiatives such as FirstBuy and NewBuy. The result began to increase the share of private sector in construction of new homes.

The government has extended support to the new sector through the introduction of the program “HelptoBuy”. Expanding the sector of new housing for buyers under the scheme “HelptoBuy”, stimulated the construction of housing in the UK as a whole.

RICSожидает that as a result it will affect the higher level of new construction in the next year. The expectations index, the number of newly constructed homes may be about 115000 this year, significantly compared to 100,000 in 2012. However, this is certainly not enough to raise the level of affordability of housing in the UK and suggests that, most likely, you will need to do much more to address this important task.

® Helen Antre 18.05.2013.