New home approvals down another ten per cent
Wednesday, 21 December 2011 11:44 AM
Planning permissions for new homes are down 10 per cent on a year ago and are now half the number needed to meet demand, according to the Home Builders Federation (HBF).
Approvals for just 32,900 homes were granted in the third quarter. Over the first three quarters of 2011, 100,446 homes were approved, a fall of 16 per cent.
The HBF said homes approved now would be built over the next three to four years and the decline had the potential for intensifying the housing crisis.
It also published a YouGov opinion poll showing strong support for building more homes. Some 65 per cent of the population think we have not got enough homes to house a growing population, 80 per cent think we need to build more for sale and rent and 67 per cent want the planning system streamlined and speeded up.
HBF executive chairman Stewart Baseley said the figures showed why the government must stand firm and implement its proposed National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).
He said: "The housing shortage is having a huge impact on ordinary people, young couples who can't set up home, parents called upon to help their children to buy a house, or the hundreds of thousands of workers reliant on house building who have lost their jobs."
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