Press Release

New Home Starts Fall by Almost Half

4 September 2008

Following the Government's announcement of a raft of rescue measures to
boost the housing market, NHBC's new house-building statistics show that the
number of applications to start new homes fell by almost half year-on-year
in the three-months from May to July.  

NHBC statistics show that there were 28,086 applications to start new homes
in the UK in the three months from May to July 2008 - a 47 per cent decrease
on the same period a year ago (52,907).

Imtiaz Farookhi, NHBC Chief Executive, says: "With poor demand continuing to
affect building activity severely on sites, we welcome the Government's
package of measures to re-energise the housing market, including interest
free loans for first-time buyers, which should go some way to restore
consumer confidence.   

"However, the success of these measures will be short-lived unless urgent
action is taken to increase mortgage lending by improving liquidity in the
mortgage market, so that finance deals will be more readily available for
buyers. We look forward to the results of Sir James Crosby's review of the
mortgage finance markets in the next few weeks and urge that measures to
improve conditions in this area are implemented at the earliest
opportunity."

NHBC statistics show that of the 28,086 applications received to start new
homes during May to July 2008, 17,835 related to private sector activity
(i.e. excluding housing associations), showing a 58 per cent decrease on the
same three month period in 2007 (42,123).

Housing association starts totalled 10,251 for the three months to the end
of July - a decrease of five per cent on the same period a year ago
(10,784).

Although less severe than the decline in applications to start new homes,
NHBC statistics show that new build completions also fell in the three
months to the end of July this year.  A total of 42,875 new homes was
completed in the three month period - 15 per cent lower than the same period
last year, when 50,228 new homes were completed.     

Additional figures for the three months from May to July 2008 show that the
average number of daily sales of new homes in the UK was 477, a decrease of
21 per cent on the same period a year ago (607).