The number of new homes in the UK decreased slightly last year, says The National House Building Council (NHBC).

New home registrations in the UK totalled 115,020 at the end of 2011, a dip on 2010's total figure of 115,458. Both figures are significantly below the 2007 pre-recession high of 200,700. "While December is always a short month in which registrations inevitably dip, the last quarter of 2011 was particularly weak, with little sign of the cautious growth the industry experienced earlier in the year," said NHBC's chief executive Imtiaz Farookhi.

Ireland house prices drop

IRELAND was the global property loser last year, while Hong Kong, France and Turkey were the winners, according to the latest Knight Frank Global House Price Index. Ireland's house prices fell more than 14 per cent in 2011, Cyprus dipped 6.6 per cent and Spain recorded a 5.5 per cent decline. Meanwhile, Hong Kong house prices were up nearly 20 per cent annually, France was up 6.7 per cent and Turkey's house prices rose by 6.3 per cent.

Housing benefit cuts warning

WELFARE reforms will leave low-income families with shortfalls in their rent payments and put 800,000 homes out of reach, according to research conducted by the Chartered Institute of Housing for the Guardian newspaper. From January, the government has capped housing benefit payment.

Grainia Long, the interim chief executive of the institute, said the welfare changes will "see for the first time more people chasing homes than the market currently provides".