NHBC report 18% increase in new home registrations

Registrations at their highest level since final quarter of 2007.

NHBC has released figures for the first quarter of 2015 that show new home registrations have risen in the first three months of the year. 

Between January and March, 40,281 new homes were registered, with three quarters from the private sector and the other quarter in the public sector. 

This represents an 18% increase from the same time last year when 34,163 homes were registered altogether. 

Northern Ireland, the east of England and the south east saw the most growth in Q1 when compared to last year. 

With 776 new home registrations, Northern Ireland boasts an increase of 42%, while the 4,318 new registrations in the east of England represents a 70% rise and the south east saw a boost of 47% thanks to 6,624 new registrations. 

David Little, NHBC Director of Northern Ireland, spoke about the “significant improvement”, adding: “Although we are still operating at historically low house building levels, the first quarter of 2015 marks a significant improvement on the positive year we had last year. 

“With registrations up in both the private and public sectors, it is clear that confidence is back, with many builders in Northern Ireland enjoying a very strong start to the year. 

“Hot spot areas unsurprisingly include the commuter areas around Belfast and I envisage that demand in these areas will continue to increase over the rest of the year.”

The figures released today show a year-on-year increase in new homes of 26% for the private sector when compared to this time last year. As for the public sector, the figure is only down by 1%. 

Overall, the new home registrations are at their highest levels since the final quarter of 2007. 

NHBC Chief Executive Mike Quinton still believes work needs to be done to keep new housing at the top of the agenda for the Government, but was heartened by the figures. 

He said: “Our figures show an encouraging start to 2015 with new housing registrations up 18% on the first quarter of last year. Housing growth remains strong across virtually every part of the UK.

“However, we have made it clear that the UK is still building way below the volumes of homes that we need. NHBC looks forward to working with Government to ensure that high quality housing is a top priority.”

NHBC statistics represent a unique source of detailed information on new home construction and the house building industry. 

Figures relate to new homes registered with NHBC for its ten-year warranty, which covers 80% of all new homes built in the UK. 

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