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The number of new homes built in England and Wales in 2009/10 will slump to the lowest level since 1923 – fuelling fears that a chronic shortage of housing will leave millions of people trapped in overcrowded and substandard housing for a generation to come, the National Housing Federation has warned.

The NHF has forecast that house-builders are on course to build just 122,700 homes between April 2009-March 2010, 18,000 fewer than were built over the previous financial year, as a result of private developers scaling back developments following the onset of the recession.

The house-building figures for 2009/10 will be the lowest total since 1923/4, when just 86,000 homes were built, if the war years are excluded. It will be the second successive year that numbers have fallen significantly, after 2008/9 saw only 140,950 homes built, compared to 176,660 the year before.

With a number of building societies increasing their standard variable rates (SVR) on mortgages, many borrowers who are sat on SVR deals are considering whether now is the right time to remortgage.

Analysis from moneysupermarket.com shows that borrowers on the majority of SVR deals would be wise to consider switching - especially as other lenders are expected to increase their SVR rates.

Whitehall turf wars threaten economic growth and recovery in many parts of Britain by undermining attempts to co-ordinate planning for big infrastructure projects such as roads, ports and railways, warns a new report from leading housing and planning charity, the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA).

A series of National Policy Statements (NPS), a cornerstone of England’s new national planning system unveiled in 2008, are leaving different government departments to make their own plans for major infrastructure projects. This means, for example, that where a new high-speed rail link is planned that will create jobs and bring people into an area, too little consideration is being given to the demand it will create for an extra power station or new roads.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has banned mortgage intermediary Andrew Emelife for knowingly submitting mortgage applications to lenders that contained false and misleading income information.

Emelife also commissioned an accountant to provide false accountants statements for himself and at least one customer to commit mortgage fraud.

The UK's biggest ever green home building programme will see four areas sharing £60million to build more than 600 new homes to the toughest ever environmental standards.

These new "eco-show homes" will be built in and around the four pioneering eco-town locations, introducing nearly 2000 people to green living and saving them hundreds of pounds on bills. Nearly a third of these homes will be affordable.

The widely anticipated slowdown in the rate of capital appreciation of commercial property has taken place, following three successive months of record growth in the final quarter of last year, according to the latest CBRE Monthly Index.

Capital values rose by 0.9% over January, producing total returns of 1.5%.

Central London offices saw the strongest performance over the month, with total returns of 2.2%, around half of December’s 4.3% figure. By contrast, retail warehouses showed the most significant slowing in the rate of capital growth, seeing total returns up by 1.2%, their weakest monthly increase since June.

Lack of affordable housing is isolating and fracturing families, charity Shelter has warned.

Its research shows the huge impact the housing shortage is having on families across Britain, with 1.5 million adults saying they are unable to look after their elderly parents because they can’t afford to live near them.

The number of pensioners living in rural England will increase by nearly one million over the next decade – but communities will struggle to support the ageing population boom unless more affordable homes are built for families and younger people, a campaign group has warned.

The National Housing Federation predicts the number of over 65s living in rural England will hit 3.23m by 2020, a rise of 907,900 (39%) from 2008.

After the buy-to-let investment boom, the man on the street could soon be investing in a piece of large-scale rented housing developments funded by institutions and listed property firms.

The British Property Federation (BPF) has led an on-going campaign for reform of stamp duty rules which it says act as a huge disincentive.

Anticipation of end-of-year bonuses fuelled a 23% surge in interest in international property purchase, as confidence returns against a backdrop of improved economic prospects, according to Primelocation International.

The Primelocation International Search Index recorded more than 1.8 million foreign property searches in December and an annual increase of more than 200%. Spain and Turkey saw the highest monthly rises of 48% and 36% respectively.