Housing starts set to rise in new year

31 December 2009

Written by David Whittaker

Buy to let property owners may be affected by a rise in average property prices.

SmartNewHomes.com reported that new-build housing was 0.5 per cent more expensive in November than during the previous three months.

New build cost an average of £218,160, it noted.

The company had already predicted that new home starts would increase by 20,000 in 2010 to approximately 90,000.

However, the average cost of such properties had gone down by 3.7 per cent between November 2008-09.

Editor at tailoredhome.net Dino Wilson said: "Given that market confidence is increasing, mortgage approvals are up and the worst of the housing downturn looks to be behind us, it is likely that there will be a sizeable jump in the volume of housing starts next year."

He added that this will put pressure on supply in 2010 - particularly since the number of households is expected to rise next year.

The Department for Communities and Local Government said in November that there had been 83,080 annual housing starts between September 2008-09 and that this was some 55 per cent lower than their peak in 2005-06.

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