A really interesting graph here showing how housebuilding has dropped since the start of the recession, and despite an upturn which shows in the many contractors who have commented to us that they now have lots of tender enquiries coming in, it is a very long way back to pre-credit crunch levels of housebuilding. And all this despite (as another Building magazine article comments) "two years of unprecedented public spending on new homes".



It is a sobering reminder, also, of how little the social housing sector contributes to overall levels of new homes. Given that the new government is likely to scrap housebuilding targets, and potentially give more power to individual residents to oppose new housing schemes, it is tough to see how the affordability issue (still very much alive despite the downturn in house prices) is going to be relieved.

Labels: construction industry, housing