Housing starts fell back below 100,000 in 2011
Friday, 17 February 2012 10:22 AM
New housing starts in England fell four per cent in 2011 to dip back below 100,000, according to government figures.
The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) said there were 25,240 starts in the fourth quarter, which was up six per cent on the previous three months and 10 per cent on a year ago.
However, starts over the year as a whole totalled just 98,550. Although up on the 2009 low point of 79,350 it was down on the 102,120 seen in 2010 and is less than half the number needed to meet demand.
The news was a little better further down the construction pipeline, with 109,010 completions, up five per cent on the low point of 103,670 last year.
The figures sparked an immediate war of tweets between housing minister Grant Shapps and his Labour opponent Jack Dromey.
Shapps, who this week hailed government's Get Britain Building Fund as a success, chose the comparison with 2009 to claim a 24 per cent rise in starts.
Dromey tweeted that starts the first 18 months of the coalition were down 11 per cent on the last 18 months of the Labour government.
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