A Scottish homebuilding industry body has said boosting housing production to pre-downturn levels could create 40,000 jobs.

The potential jobs would bring the Scottish construction industry close to pre-crash levels of employment.

Homes for Scotland called on the Scottish Government to "maximise investment" on the back of yesterday's GDP figures.

The statistics showed the Scottish construction sector shrank by 5.2% between April and June this year.

And it emerged at the end of May that just 15,150 new homes were built last year, although the Scottish Government announced it had exceeded its own affordable housing targets.

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Philip Hogg, chief executive of Homes for Scotland, said homebuilding supported jobs and apprenticeships and could be boosted to "drive down unemployment".

Mr Hogg said: "These statistics make for very disappointing reading, coming as they do on the back of last week's Scottish figures which showed a 7% fall in construction output and other official figures which revealed that nearly 50,000 construction sector jobs had been lost in Scotland during 2008 – 2011.

"If output were to return to pre-downturn levels, this could mean more than 40,000 employment opportunities and 1,200 apprenticeships across the country.

"By maximising investment in housing and continuing to remove barriers to development, the Scottish Government can help us provide much needed new homes whilst also driving down unemployment and delivering warm sustainable homes to tackle fuel poverty."

Mr Hogg also called on the UK government to stimulate the economy and consumer confidence by removing barriers to corporate bank loans and mortgages.

(NE)