UK faces housing shortage

Homeowners considering building a conservatory or pool house may be interested to hear there is concern about the lack of properties in the UK.

Those with their own house might consider themselves lucky after the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) suggested there is a need for many more residences to be built than are currently planned.

Recent government figures show there has been an increase in new builds, but this hides the real "crisis" facing the nation, the body said.

The second quarter of 2009 saw a 63 per cent rise in new projects and a 24 per cent increase in completions.

However, FMB director of external affairs Brian Berry explained there is a "fundamental problem" where demand is outstripping projected supply.

"The government has a target of about 240,000 new homes a year and even with these current projections youre going to get about half of that going forward," he said.

As a result, the 4.5 million people currently waiting on a council house could be left waiting a long time, Mr Berry implied.