The Government has said that we need new housing, lots of new housing. It has plans to build 160,000 new houses in Essex alone. With that in mind what is the meaning of the following article eon the BBC’s website.
Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey has said it is to close a third of its 39 offices, with the loss of 900 jobs, as it seeks to survive the housing downturn. Taylor Wimpey added it had so far failed to agree a deal to raise extra funds, reported to be about £500m, through an emergency share issue.
It said it expected the UK housing market to remain weak in 2008 and did not anticipate any short-term recovery. Finance director Peter Johnson will also stand down at the end of 2008. The gloomy news from Taylor Wimpey came as the Royal Institute for Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said that building of new homes had fallen at the fastest pace since 1995.
Taylor Wimpey announced on Monday that it was planning to raise funds to bolster its finances. But "current market conditions" meant it had not yet been able to strike a "satisfactory" deal, it said. Taylor Wimpey said on Monday that it had been hit by a "significant downturn" in the housing market, and said it expected to write off the value of its land bank and work-in-progress by about £550m in the UK.
There have been reports that rival housebuilder Barratt Developments is also looking to its to strengthen its finances. Barratt has debts of about £1.7bn which it used to buy rival Wilson Bowden last year - when the housing market was at its peak.
If we require so much new housing then why are these contractors struggling is because they are not very good, we have had a quite a few enquires and tender packages sent to us in the last month for housing, a lot of it affordable homes with some normal housing and a few luxury homes.
