Housebuilding levels saw 9% fall in 2012

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

Housebuilding levels in the UK dropped by nearly a tenth last year, new figures have revealed.

The National House Building Council's (NHBC) statistics show 104,510 new homes were registered during 2012 - a nine percent decline on 2011's 114,930.

According the NHBC, the fall was caused entirely by public sector housing registrations which dropped from 36,680 in 2011, to 26,390 in 2012.

Private housebuilding was stable during 2012, with 78,120 new homes registered, compared to 78,250 in 2011.

The NHBC's commercial director, Richard Tamayo, said: "In summary 2012 was a challenging year for the housebuilding industry overall but ended on an encouraging note with Q4 figures 17 percent up on the same period for 2011. With government-backed schemes such as NewBuy and Funding for Lending helping to increase mortgage availability, there are reasons to believe that 2013 may see the industry able to build on some of the positive momentum we saw towards the end of 2012, which does seem to be carrying over into January.

"Nonetheless, with housebuilding volumes so far below the numbers desperately needed in the UK, this is clearly an issue that needs to remain at the heart of government policy."