Tuesday 22 February 2011

Planning slump

Sorry, that house you were hoping to move into - it won't be built.

We haven't even applied for planning permission.

That is the worrying message from the Home Builders Federation, whose members put up eight out of ten new homes.

The latest report from the HBF says that across Britain just 33,000 homes were approved for construction in the last three months of 2010.

33,000 was 9% fewer than the previous quarter and 22% fewer than the year before.


Social housing was hardest hit with only 5,500 approvals, a new low, and a small figure considering that 5 million people are languishing on council waiting lists for homes.

It is the third successive quarterly fall. Planning permissions are being granted at less than half the rate of four years ago.

What will cause most concern is that after permission is given, typically it takes up to three years to build the home.

So, sorry you don't have a place to rest your head. You won't get one for quite some time.

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