Jump in British home starts

British home starts in fiscal 2004 jumped to the most in at least 13 years.

Housing starts climbed 8.5% to 211,839 in the year through March and completions rose 5.1% to 189,896, the office of Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said.

A Bank of England report in March said that more than 250,000 homes need to be built each year to ease pressure on prices. British house prices have more than doubled in the past five years and a shortage of homes makes the market more susceptible to boom and bust, it said.