Despite the difficulties being experienced by the residential property sector as a whole, there continues to be demand for social housing, it has been reported.

In figures released by the National House Building Council (NHBC) it was revealed that applications to build social housing developments rose by eight per cent between June and August in comparison to the same period in 2007 to stand at 10,432.

Imtiaz Farookhi, chief executive of the NHBC, pointed out that the social housing sector "is currently showing more resilience to the downturn" than the private housebuilding industry.

However, over the same length of time requests to build private homes stood at 14,665, with this figure representing a fall of 65 per cent from the equivalent period last year.

Such news might be of interest to those seeking jobs in planning.

Earlier this month Anthony Mayer, chairman of the Tenant Services Authority, recently claimed that those working for housing associations should be more proactive in their provision of social housing.

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