House Builders Federation demands urgent government action to protect housebuilding industry jobs

Housebuilders have issued a call to government to protect the industry from potentially “severe” job losses caused by the housing market downturn.

The Home Builders Federation (HBF) this morning issued a statement saying “urgent” action was needed by the government to turn the market around.

The HBF said that 300,000 people are employed directly by the housebuilding industry, with many more employed in servicing the industry. Redrow has already this week announced it has made 15% of its workforce redundant since this time last year.

Stewart Baseley, executive chairman of the HBF, said: “We need action now to prevent widespread redundancies in the housing industry. Whilst we welcomed the £50bn special liquidity scheme announced by the Bank of England last month, we believe more needs to be done to help first-time buyers in particular.

“We have suggested a range of measure that we believe would assist. If action is not taken and taken quickly, in addition to the immediate threat to jobs then the government's long-term housing targets are in jeopardy.”

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