The Government has come under pressure after official figures showed that it was likely to miss its target for the number of new homes built in England. DCLG had set target of increasing the annual build rate in England from 160,761 in 2006 to 240,000 in 2016. However, official figures have shown that the actual number of new constructions begun in the first nine months of last year fell by 4.9 percent.
Despite Gordon Brown’s efforts, senior figures in the property industry are doubtful the Government will now reach its target of building 2 million homes by 2016. Ian Robertson, former Chief Executive of Wilson Bowden said: “The Government’s targets will be blown by the housebuilding industry acting commercially. The Government had always expressed concerns about [a downturn] as one of the vulnerabilities of its plan.”
The news came as Halifax reported that the combined price tag of the 22 million homes in the country has more than trebled in the past decade, rising by 208 per cent to over £4 trillion.