Report: 85,000 construction jobs to be lost by 2009

AT LEAST 85,000 construction jobs will be lost by next year from the height of the building boom in 2006.

House prices could fall by up to about a half (46%) from their peak before they recover again, according to an independent report commissioned by the Department of the Environment.

The report said more than 50,000 building jobs have been shed in the past year and a further 30,000 will go by the end of 2009 bringing the numbers working in the sector to about 200,000.