English Heritage has warned that the recession has slowed the rate at which historic buildings are being rescued from dereliction and it fears that reduced spending on heritage will take several years to show up.
Its Heritage at Risk Register 2010 shows the number of buildings at risk has almost stopped falling after several successful years and reduction in its budgets will reduce its ability to help.
"Larger developers and construction companies are also facing difficulties," said chief executive Simon Thurley. "Fewer are embarking on big regeneration projects and some are having to halt work or even abandon a site altogether."
Between 1999 and 2007 the number of Grade I and II* buildings on the Register fell 17% but since then there has been no percentage change in the number coming off it after being rescued.
In 1999, one in six buildings on the at risk register was fully economic to repair. Now, 11 years on, it is just one in eight.
The "conservation deficit", the difference between the cost of repair and the end value of the 1,218 buildings and structural scheduled monuments on the Register, is now estimated at £465m, a 10% rise from 2009.
"The fact that historic buildings at risk are getting harder to save is very worrying," said Dr Thurley.
"Removing domestic buildings from the Register has been the real success story of the last 10 years but with decreased house prices, the difficultly of getting mortgages and the uncertainly of the jobs market, private buyers and small developers are less likely to invest in a building at risk. We might also see more buildings coming on to the Register as people spend less and less on maintenance and repair."
