NHBC report shows new home registrations up by 20%

2015 housing levels performing better than 2014 despite General Election uncertainty.

The number of new housing registrations according to the NHBC’s latest report has continued to show growth.

In a continuation of the pattern shown from the first quarter of the year, 2015 is outperforming the levels set in 2014.

The first quarter of this year showed that new home registrations were up by 18% in comparison with the previous 12 months. For the rolling quarter of February to April, the rate has gone up by 20% when set against the same time last year.

In the rolling quarter reported, there have been 41,307 new home registrations, which is favourable to 34,451 from the corresponding rolling quarter of 2014.

When looking at the month of April, the NHBC report also shows positive figures. In that month, almost 12,500 new homes were registered which is a 4% increase on April 2014.

Mike Quinton, NHBC Chief Executive, is delighted that the General Election uncertainty hasn’t caused the levels to drop and is looking forward a “strong year.”

He said: “The very positive start to the year continues, with the growth in new home registrations unaffected by uncertainty ahead of the General Election and so 2015 is likely to be another strong year.

“Now that the outcome of the General Election has been decided, we look forward to continuing our work with Government to ensure that housing remains at the top of the political agenda to help us get back to pre-recession building levels.”

In the February to April period, new housing registrations in the private sector jumped up by 24% to 31,083, easily outstripping the number of almost 25,000 at this time last year.

This was backed up by public sector housing growth by 8%, from 9,458 in the same rolling quarter of 2014, to 10,224 in 2015.

Regionally, new housing registrations increased in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, while in England, the West Midlands, East Midlands, Eastern, South West and South East saw increases of over 1,000 new home registrations.

The North West and Yorkshire & the Humber also saw rises from their 2014 levels and these figures mean the industry can look forward to the rest of the year with a positive outlook.

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