Empty homes 'could cater for housing demand'

The increasing housing demand could be solved by getting more empty homes back onto the housing market, according to the independent campaigning charity Empty Homes.

Bringing more empty homes back on to the market could be good news for first-time buyers looking to access cheap mortgages in 2011.

David Ireland, chief executive of the Empty Homes, said: "The house building rates at the moment are as low as they have been since the 1920s, so any other way that you can provide homes has got to be very, very important."

Mr Ireland also pointed out that bringing empty homes back onto the market is more cost-effective and environmentally-friendly than building new homes.

He added that it is essential to look at every possible way of creating homes and bringing empty homes back to the market is a pretty obvious way of doing this.

Recent findings from the Halifax Empty Homes survey revealed that the number of long-term empty private homes, houses which have been empty for more than six months, in England has fallen for the first time in three years.
 

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2010-12-22 13:34:04 © Moneyextra.com