21% drop in social housing building starts

Published by Max Salsbury for 24dash.com in Housing and also in Development

Social housing building starts saw a 21% drop in the three months to June.

Data from the latest Glenigan Index shows an overall drop in construction of 3% year on year.

However, residential construction experienced a 9% rise in the same period.

The data also shows a 40% increase in the value of private housing construction.

James Abraham, Glenigan economist, said: "This is the second consecutive fall that we have seen this year. Increases in private housing, industrial, office and retail construction project starts were not strong enough to outweigh the falls in social housing, education, health and community & amenity starts.

"The increase in private housing building seen over the first half of the year will slow over the next six months.

“We do expect this year to be a growth year, though poor household earnings growth and potentially flat house prices will hamper the pace of any rebound in the underlying value of starts.

“Government cuts will result in continued decline in social housing activity for some time.

"The cuts in government spending will continue to restrict the number of new build education projects coming through the development pipeline and we expect to see an increase in refurbishment projects as a result.

“Though the level of health projects has remained resilient so far, we expect a shrinking flow of work over the next eighteen months."