The slump in construction output accelerated in the first three months of 2011.
Industry output contracted by 4.7%, compounding a fall of 2.3% in the final three months of 2010.
The National Federation of Builders said government measures such as FirstBuy Direct to help first-time homebuyers and a “build, now pay later” idea for housebuilders only “tinkered around the edges” of the problem of access to finance.
“Until this fundamental issue is addressed, there is little prospect of a housing market recovery or of the private sector helping to build us out of this slump,” it said.
