THE housing market in Yorkshire has been given a timely boost with plans by one regional housebuilder to open 14 new sites this year alone.

David Wilson Yorkshire plans to start work on 14 new developments comprising 1,094 new homes before the end of 2011.

The company said the developments – with a total sales value of close to £210m – provided further evidence that the property market in Yorkshire was likely to outperform some other parts of the country.

“Many househunters in Yorkshire think that now is a good time to buy because prices are lower than in 2007 and interest rates are rock bottom,” said Chris Burton, managing director of David Wilson Yorkshire West.

“We believe that this will help sustain the local housing market whatever happens to the national economy.”

He added: “We would not be making this significant commitment to the market in this area unless we were confident about its prospects in the medium-term.

“By building these developments we will be bringing new jobs to Yorkshire. We will also be creating well-designed, competitively-priced new homes which local people need.”

Barratt Group, which includes the David Wilson brand, sold 11,377 homes in the last financial year, making it the biggest housebuilder by volume in Britain.