Housebuilding decline 'looks to be at an end'
20th August 2009
Brigid O'Leary, senior economist at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, suggested that statistics showing an increase in housing starts point to an end in the decline in activity.
Communities and Local Government revealed that almost 30,000 projects got underway in England in the second quarter of the year.
This was 63 per cent higher than in the previous three-month period, although still below the level seen in 2008.
Ms O'Leary said the data "provides further evidence that the dramatic scaling back in housebuilding activity since the onset of the credit crunch has probably run its course".
She also welcomed the finding that 39,320 homes were completed in England in the three months up to the end of June, with this figure representing a 24 per cent rise on the first quarter.
