MortgagesSep 19 2014

House building grinds to a halt over the summer: ONS

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There has been no growth in house construction over August, data from the Office for National Statistics has revealed.

According to the ONS figures, there was 0 per cent growth in seasonally adjusted construction output.

The data also showed that orders for private new housing and private new industrial construction fell by 6.3 per cent and 1.9 per cent over the year to the end of July 2014.

Duncan Kreeger, director of lender West One Loans, said that this demonstrated the need for “smarter approaches to make more imaginative use of the buildings we already have”.

There has been some evidence of such initiatives. Stoke-on-Trent sold 35 dilapidated houses for £1 in 2013. The scheme was targeted at low income families living in the area, and prospective tenants were eligible for a £30,000 loan to fund repairs.

Key Points
In July 2014, output in the construction industry showed continued year-on-year growth for the 14th consecutive month, increasing by 2.6 per cent.
A decrease in non-housing repair and maintenance (-4.1 per cent) offsets an infrastructure output increase of 3.3 per cent.
Year-on-year growth was the weakest since November 2013, when it stood at 1.5 per cent.

Adviser view

Mark Watson, director of Bristol-based Watson & Co said: “House building has cooled off a bit. On the commercial side, the main high street banks need to look at how they stress test, lend more and increase flexibility. Banks still have too much investment property on their books, so have less appetite for that sector.