Housing crisis threatens UK

Overcrowded housing conditions in Britain are near to crisis levels.

The National Housing Federation (NHF) is highlighting the plight of millions of UK residents forced to live in overcrowded accommodation, a situation made worse by the lack of new homes being built across the country.

New housing has been seriously affected during the long months of recession; new builds are down almost a third.

Just over 120,000 new UK properties will have been constructed by April, the lowest amount since the 1920's not counting the war years.

There are sites all across the country that were mothballed during the economic downturn and while developers are keen to return to business, the sticking point seems to be the lack of UK mortgages.

Many new housing developments are split into 60% private home sales and 40% public/shared ownership/housing association properties.

If buyers are not forthcoming for the private homes, then the other houses will also not be built. The industry is appealing to the UK government not to slash public spending on housing projects as hinted at in the pre-budget report.