THE Daily Echo can today lay bare the devastating impact of the recession on Southampton.

Official statistics compiled for the city’s leaders reveal:

  • Only two new homes were completed in December – compared with at least 100 a month just two years ago.
  • The number of homeless people more than doubled in the last three months.
  • Average Southampton house prices dropped almost £7,000 between October and January.
  • There are 100 empty shops in the city – more than double the number this time last year.
  • There are almost five unemployed people for every job vacancy.

The statistics have shocked even the city’s most optimistic leaders, who today conceded we are in serious trouble – and it’s going to get much worse.

Councillor Royston Smith, Cabinet member for economic development, said: “We have no jobs, we have no construction and we have no retail coming on stream. This can only get worse.”

Full story in the Saturday Review, in today's Daily Echo