The house-building sector has published a report that it commissioned from economists to show how much house-builders contribute both to the exchequer and to society.
According to the Home-Builders Federation report, house-building ‘contributes £19.2bn a year to the UK economy’ and ‘generates £1.4bn per year in tax revenues’.
In 2014 there were 140,000 new homes built in the UK. House-builders contributed £225m last year to schools and a further £351m to other community infrastructure. They also planted 6,500,000 trees and shrubs.
The house-building sector employs 233,000 people directly and supports more than 600,000 jobs in total, it is estimated.
The figure of £1.4bn of taxes generated by house-builders last year includes not just the corporation tax paid by the building companies and developers but also the taxes paid by building workers, including national insurance contributions, as well as stamp duty, land taxes and the estimated £200m of council taxes paid by all the residents of the new homes.
The HBF said that if the UK built more houses, the economic benefits would be greater still.
HBF executive chairman Stewart Baseley said: “House-building makes a huge largely hidden social and economic contribution to the UK. Whilst housing output has increased, we are still not delivering anywhere near what is needed. As well as delivering desperately needed new homes, increasing housing supply would deliver significant additional benefits. House building is a huge employer both directly and through supplier companies.
“As well as providing desperately needed new homes, increasing house building would deliver massive additional benefits to communities across the land. People often don’t realise that the new community centre or school or football pitch has been paid for as a direct results of new homes. Providing new homes for people also means better facilities for the wider community. These are the very things that turn a collection of houses into communities; brand new places where people want to live.
“As we approach this important election, politicians must prioritise housing policies to help house builders build the homes we need.”