Print friendly version 14 May 2008

Government urged to help house builders

The Government has been urged to take action to assist the home building industry, according to the House Builders Federation (HBF).

The HBF estimated that although around 300,000 people are employed in building homes, many more are employed either directly or indirectly in servicing the housing industry, and would be affected if there are sustained job losses in the sector. Such people include solicitors, estate agents, removal men and mortgage brokers.

Stewart Baseley, executive chairman of the HBF, said: “We need action now to prevent widespread redundancies in the housing industry. While we welcomed the £50bn Special Liquidity Scheme announced by the Bank of England last month we believe more needs to be done to help first-time buyers in particular.

“We have suggested a range of measures that we believe would assist. If action is not taken and taken quickly, in addition to the immediate threat to jobs, the Government’s long-term housing targets will be in jeopardy”.

STAY UP TO DATE: Subscribe to email alerts Subscribe to RSS