Orders for private new housing and private industrial constructionalso fell by 6.3% and 1.9% respectively in Q2 2014 compared to Q1.
Generally the contribution industry has grown by 2.6% year-on-year.
Duncan Kreeger, director of lender West One Loans, said: “Britain needs more homes – and yet their supply is the one stream of our roaring economy that’s still trickling.
“Across the wider construction industry things are gradually going the right way, but today’s figures are a tale of floundering housing output in a sea of opportunity.
“Property needs a more radical turnaround. New orders for private new housing are falling at least twice as fast as economic output is going in the other direction, and that’s not sustainable. So smarter approaches are vital, to make more imaginative use of the buildings we already have.
New construction orders in Q2 2014 were 3.8% higher by value than Q1, with increases of private commercial (9.6%) and public new housing (7.3%).
Kreeger added: “Property is valuable and there’s no need to leave empty old offices, shops or industrial buildings when they could be viable places to live.
“Unloved homes that can’t secure their owners a mortgage because they don’t have a bathroom, for example, are even sadder – and traditional lenders still haven’t got their heads around funding these projects.”
