The amount spent on building new houses has surpassed it’s pre 2008 peak according to the Office of National Statistics.
Thanks to an increase in private house building, just over £7.5 billion was spent on house building work in Q1 of 2016, surpassing the £6.9 billion spent in Q1 of 2007. Compared with a year ago, housing output is up 3.4%.
However building work as a whole declined by 1.1% from Q4 of 2015, and perhaps more alarmingly, total output between February and March fell by 3.6%.
Andrew Bridges, managing director of Stirling Ackroyd said: “Housing is holding its own within a wider construction sector that’s going the wrong way. But in spite of all the scaffolding, Britain’s new homes industry still can’t keep up with the scale of demand for property.
“London is the capital of that mismatch, and should be ripe with construction opportunity. But developments are becoming deadlocked in the planning matrix. In the run-up to the mayoral election, 4 in 10 new homes were rejected by planners. This needs to be tackled. Can Sadiq cure London’s housing headache? Priority number one must be driving an acceleration in London’s construction industry. A new mayor must mark a new phase.”
