UK facing 'shortfall of one million homes'

The UK is facing a shortfall of nearly a million homes but the number of properties being built has dropped to its lowest since the 1920s, a trade body warned today.

The Home Builders Federation said only 142,000 new properties were built during 2009, the smallest number since 1923, excluding the years during World War Two.

It warned that the shortage of new homes was forcing people to put on hold plans such as starting a family, while others were unable to move to areas they wanted to live in for work or family reasons.

The average age of a first-time buyer who does not receive help from their family is now 37, while nearly a third of men and a fifth of women aged between 20 and 34 still live with their parents.

At the same time, nearly five million people are currently on local authority housing waiting lists.

The group said increasing the housing supply was critical to the country in both social and economic terms.

It added that tackling the supply crisis would also help to boost employment, with each new home built creating 1.5 full-time jobs, plus up to four times that number in the supply chain.

Stewart Baseley, executive chairman of the Home Builders Federation, said: "House building is a British industry success that is responsible for hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country.

"New homes are vital for first-time buyers and young families - and are also greener and so cheaper to run."

Sir Bob Kerslake, chief executive of the Homes and Communities Agency, said: "New homes are crucial not only for providing places for families to live, but are the vital link in ensuring communities continue to thrive, whether through jobs generation, training opportunities and, at its most basic level, simply transforming places."