Price forecast 'should be catalyst for homebuilding'

A report revealing that house prices are set to rise by 40 per cent to reach an average of £300,000 by 2012 means that it is crucial that governmental building targets are met, according to the National Housing Federation (NHF).

The NHF-commissioned report has said that governmental plans to build three million homes by 2020 must be stuck to, not least the commitment to building 70,000 affordable homes a year by 2010 to 2011.

Waiting lists for social housing have grown by 57 per cent since 2002 and now feature more than 1.6 million households.

"Unless we do something radical about housing supply we will see more overcrowding, more grown up sons and daughters unable to move out of the parental home, more households living in unfit homes," advised NHF chief executive David Orr.

The number of people who have had their homes repossessed during the first half of 2007 was almost 30 per cent higher than in the same period during 2006, the Council of Mortgage Lenders revealed last week.


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