House building target missed

Figures out today also reveal that the number of housing starts is down 40 per cent on the government’s target of 240,000 new homes to be built annually until 2016. Starts fell to a 30-year low with only 105,000 registered for the year – down 37 per cent on 2007 and 43 per cent from their 2005/06 peak. The number of new homes started between October and December (16,300) was the lowest since 1980, down 27 per cent on the previous quarter and 58 per cent in year-on-year figures.