FMB calls on new housing minister to address decline of SME house builders
11th September 2012

The Federation of Master Builders (FMB) has called upon new housing minister Mark Prisk to prioritise SME house builders in a bid to solve the nation’s housing crisis.

Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the FMB said:
"If we are to stand any chance of addressing the nation’s chronic housing shortage we have to remove the barriers that are currently preventing small and medium sized house builders from delivering badly needed new housing."

Berry continued:
"When the industry last delivered housing in the kinds of numbers we need now, SMEs were delivering around two thirds of it. Now we are building half of what we require, and we are reliant on just nine house builders to deliver 45% of our housing following a 69% decline in the number of SME house builders."

Berry concluded:
"SMEs can go a long way to solving the housing crisis because they typically bring forward small urban infill sites that would otherwise be ignored, and by doing so take pressure off green belt land."