Taylor Scott International News
New housing construction in the UK is rising, although there was a slight slowdown in output in March of this year. The latest figures from the Office of National Statistics show that new housing output fell by 0.3% in March month on month. Overall output in the construction industry was estimated to have decreased by 3.6% compared with February 2016 and in the first quarter of 2016 it was estimated to have decreased by 1.1% compared with the fourth quarter of 2015. And year on year between the first three months of 2016 and the first quarter of 2015 output was estimated to have decreased by 1.9%. However in the first quarter of the year there was an increase of 4.8% in total new housing output compared with the fourth quarter of 2015, the data also shows. Both public and private new housing reported increases of 4.2% and 4.9% respectively and all new housing has shown underlying growth since the second quarter of 2013, with the exception of the third quarter of 2015. When compared with the same period a year ago, there was an increase of 3.4% in total housing, with private housing increasing by 7.5% offset slightly by a fall in public new housing of 14.3%. The level of private new housing is the main contributor to the level of total new housing, with public new housing having a much smaller contribution, the ONS report says. The level of private new housing has been increasing gradually since early 2013 and in the first quarter of 2016 was at its highest since records began in 1997 at £6.3 billion, while the level of total new housing is also at its highest at £7.5 billion. Charles Holland, head of residential development and investment at Marsh & Parsons, pointed out that public and private sector housing are the only sectors to have witnessed an increase in construction output quarter on quarter. He does not believe that the slight fall in March is a major issue because home construction is heading in the right direction. ‘London needs to build more new homes than anywhere else in the country. But they also need to be delivered at the right price,’ he warned. ‘It’s not just enough for the new Mayor of London to pledge an annual quota for house building. While that’s challenging in itself, it needs to be coupled with affordability to truly work for everyday Londoners,’ he explained. ‘House building efforts in London need to cater for the £250,000 to £850,000 price range, as this is where we see the strongest and most urgent buyer demand from first time buyers and growing families,’ he added. The new Mayor Sadiq Khan has revealed that an audit of City Hall's preparedness to tackle the housing crisis has found that the delivery of affordable homes is at a near standstill. Last year saw the lowest number of new affordable homes since current records began in 1991with just 4,880 being built. He has… Taylor Scott International
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