<p>Collapsing greenfield land supply and growing cost burdens placed by government on brownfield sites, along with falling densities are leading to a decline in housebuilding levels. The department for Communities and Local Government’s (CLG) latest housebuilding and land supply figures tell a story of falling supply undermining the government’s 200,000 per annum new homes targets, according to HBF economic affairs director John Stewart. New housebuilding starts fell by 9% in the first quarter of 2007, compared with the same quarter last year. Starts dropped to 43,600 while RSL starts fell from 17,226 to 16,873. </p> <p>Stewart has been involved in high level discussions with “very rattled” government officials since he alerted them to the scandalous policy picture. According to the figures, the total amount of land available for development fell by 7.3% between 1997 and 2003. Greenfield land supply fell by 27% during the same period, while brownfield supply grew by just 14%. New homes on greenfield land dropped off by 36% between 1997 and 2006, while schemes on brownfield sites grew by 43% during that period. Overall, according to the CLG’s statistics, new build completions rose by just 7.5% during 1997 to 2006, when they stood at around 160,000. …