However, government figures out this morning show annual housing starts totalled 98,280 in 2012, which is 58% higher than the trough in the March quarter 2009 but 45% below the March quarter 2007 peak.
A study from house builder Barratt of 2,275 home buyers across Britain, showed shortage of property not financing was now the single biggest barrier for house hunters, with just 5% saying finding a property is easy. A third of respondents had been looking for a home for six months.
Mark Clare, CEO of Barratt Developments said: “There has clearly been a shift in the market with a growing belief that the availability of mortgage finance has become a little easier – that’s got to be good news for homebuyers. However, customers are overestimating the size of the deposit that they would need, particularly as NewBuy becomes established in the market.
“The Barratt study also underlines how low the level of activity in the market remains with a scarcity of property to buy.”
Barratt said it planned to build more homes this year than at any time over the previous five years.
