A comprehensive package to build more houses and retrofit existing homes needs to be the Chancellor of the Exchequer's top priority when he outlines his Budget proposals on 22 April, says the Federation of Master Builders (FMB).

Richard Diment, Director-General of the FMB said: "We are sinking deeper and deeper into a massive housing crisis, and we cannot afford to use the state of the economy as an excuse for doing nothing about it. For too long the Government has off loaded its responsibilities for housing and infrastructure onto the private sector. Now that the market has finally collapsed, the Government needs to face up to its responsibilities or it will face mass homelessness as well as mass unemployment.

"The facts speak for themselves. We have been under building for years. We need 223,000 new homes per year to keep up with demand but were only building 185,000 a year before the crash. Last year we built 80,000 and this figure will fall to 70,000 this year. It is clear that we have a massive housing supply crisis and this is only going to get worse not better unless the Government takes strong and decisive action. Measures to kick start the house building industry and promote the retro-fitting of our existing homes to make them greener and more energy efficient offers the best hope to the Chancellor to put Britain back on the road of economic recovery. A fiscal stimulus of £5 billion would create as many as 55,000 new jobs in the construction sector which is experiencing its worst recession since 1980."

-- Advertisement --

Other measures included in the FMB's pre-Budget submission include:

• Get the banks to lend to small businesses
• Introduce fiscal incentives such as Council Tax rebates for the refurbishment of our existing housing stock
• Cut VAT to five per cent for all repair and maintenance work to help bring empty homes back into use
• Abandon the proposed Community Infrastructure Levy which is stopping house building
• Reintroduce empty property rate relief to help urban regeneration
• Increase Stamp Duty Land Tax threshold to the average price of a home in the UK which is currently £205,000