Some 14,300 newly built homes were sold last year, the worst results in the sector since 1950, according to housing developers’ association NVB.

This year the NVB is forecasting a further deterioration, saying just 10,000 new homes will be sold. In 2006, when the housing market was nearing its peak, 44,000 new homes found owners.

The NVB blames national government in The Hague for the housing development sector’s woes. It points out that the value-added tax reduction only applies to redevelopment and renovation, not new building projects.

Housing corporations have virtually stopped building new homes and the rules for first-time buyers are now extremely complicated, the organisation said.

It also criticised banks for refusing to consider loans to new housing projects and local authorities for refusing to cut land prices.