Estate agents 'could see a rise in new-build houses'

Estate agents could have more new-build houses on their books after it was suggested that there is a "huge undersupply of housing" at the moment.

According to Steve Turner, head of communications at the Home Builders Federation, there is likely to be a rise in the number of new-build properties being constructed in order to meet the growing demand from people looking for a house for sale in the UK.

"We estimate that we have already got a housing shortfall of a million and [for] every year that we are not building 200,000 plus homes that million shortfall is getting bigger," he commented.

Mr Turner voiced his opinion after house builder Persimmon announced last week that it had made pre-tax profits of £101.4 million during the first six months of 2010.

The increase in sales of its new-build properties led to a surge in its earnings for the first half of the year compared with the same period in 2009, when it made just £9.8 million in pre-tax profits.