Housebuilding 'to fall'

The number of new homes being built in Britain is on course to continue falling, the House Builders Association has said.

Roger Humber, the organisation's spokesman, stated the situation was as bad as it had been since the early 1930s as the body projected that the number of homes built could be just 110,000 this year and 80,000 next year, well short of annual government targets of 200,000 or more.

He commented: "House builders are not going to be starting new sites, they're going to be laying people off, they may even be mothballing sites."

Falls in homebuilding have been blamed on the slowdown in the housing market caused by the credit crunch.

Those hoping to move into a new home may be faced with much less choice as a consequence of the situation.

Self build may be one way people can still obtain the sort of home they are looking for.

Last week Financial Times blogger Jim Pickard labelled the government's housebuilding targets as appearing "increasingly hallucinogenic".