Joseph Daniels, founder of modular developer Project Etopia, has commented on the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s (MHCLG’s) housebuilding stats for the June quarter released on October 3, which reveal that newbuild starts are 8% down year-on-year.
Speaking about the stats, Joseph, said: “This is a second successive decline in house-building starts and unless there is a swift reversal in fortunes in the final six months of the year, this is going to translate into fewer completions in 2020.
“This serves as a wake-up call to the government which, despite setting grand housebuilding targets, now faces the prospect of watching the industry cut and run from those ambitions, leaving them in tatters.
“Housebuilders are showing signs of succumbing to the property slowdown, and it is evident that the industry has not done enough to plan for this.
“There is still enormous hunger out there for housing, valuations are still healthy by historic standards, and there is plenty of buying power thanks to cheap borrowing and buyer incentive schemes. However, the industry does not seem capable of ridding itself of the self-defeating, cyclical pattern that has always haunted it.”
Joseph concluded: “Housing policy in Britain is still failing and the people it is failing the most are those desperate to get onto the housing ladder who cannot afford to buy because there is not enough supply.”
You can read more here: https://rcimag.co.uk/news/new-figures-show-fall-in-starts-of-new-homes
