Help to Buy to boost construction sector

Housing Wed, Mar 23, 2016 10:37 AM

Help to Buy is helping to increase housing supply and get Britain building by driving demand for new-build homes.

Over half of the homes bought through Help to Buy are new-build properties, contributes to the 41% rise in private house building in England since the launch of the scheme.

In fact, work started on about 40,300 new homes between January and March, marking a 31% increase on the previous quarter, these figures have been released by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), marking the highest quarterly total since 2007.

The construction industry is crediting Help to Buy for reinvigorating the sector and boosting housing supply. Simon Hay, CEO of the Brick Development Association comments: “We welcome the extension of Help to Buy. This increased certainty offered by an extra four years of the scheme will lead to investment from house builders, providing a continual demand for brick.

"Brick production has shown a continued increase in output with production rising to its highest level for the month of April since 2008, 9% higher than in April last year.

"We are therefore confident the brick industry can meet the forecasted growth for new housing over the next few years. We must also not forget that building these homes will create thousands more apprenticeships and jobs for young people in the construction industry across the UK.”