BSRIA says it is concerned about the first set of significant house building figures published by the National House Building Council (NHBC) since the Conservative Party Conference.

Overall, registrations for new homes fell by 2 per cent in the last three months compared with the same period last year. In the private sector, new building registrations fell by 1 per cent. In the public sector – largely homes built by housing associations for affordable housing – the number was down 4 per cent. This has been caused partly by uncertainty over how new Right to Buy plans will affect housing associations. 

However, the NHBC still predicts that overall new house building figures for the year will have increased, when the full figures for 2015 are collated.

In 2014-15, there were only 124,520 housing completions - around 100,000 short of what is needed to meet current demand.

BSRIA chief executive, Julia Evans, said: 'It's easy to forget the depths of the recession five or six years ago when the industry was only building 80,000 to 100,000 homes a year. We're now at about twice that rate so the industry has come a long way.

“But there is still a long way to go if the UK is ever going to meet the target set by organisations such as Shelter that the UK should be building 250,000 new homes a year to meet the demand of those priced out of the present under-supplied market. Are these figures masking a more worrying trend?”

Ms Evans continued: “Clearly, it is the issue of skills shortages hampering the collective productive capacity within the industry. What is needed is a strategic approach from industry and government that looks to apprenticeships and other employment solutions, as politically potent as that may be, or the housing crisis will never be solved.”