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NHBC: new home registrations highest in 11 years
The UK has seen more new build homes registered between July and September than at any three-month period in 11 years, latest National House Building Council (NHBC) figures have revealed.
The figures from the NHBC, which is responsible for around 80% of new home warranties in the UK, showed that across the third quarter builders had registered a total of 43,578 new homes, a 15% increase on the 37,940 homes registered for the same period in 2017.
The overall number included 10,058 registered homes in the affordable sector – comprising housing associations and councils – up 12% from the 9,019 registered in the third quarter of 2017.
The private sector saw the number of registrations grow from 33,520 new homes registered across the three-month period, up from 28,291 homes last year.
Much of the increase has been driven by a major rise in home registrations which saw 6,007 registered projects in the three-month period, up 141% on the 2,492 homes in the same period last year.
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Neil Jefferson, chief operating officer at the NHBC, said the London growth was largely driven by the number of large developments registered by housing associations and investors with projects in private rented sector.
He added that these included the registration of 260 homes by Swan for the 1,500-home Robin Hood Gardens Scheme in Poplar, and 138 homes for the development of the former Dagenham Ford stamping plant in Barking.
Housing registrations were up in all but two of the UK and Ireland’s regions, with the East Midlands and the West Midlands the only two areas that saw registration numbers fall.
Northern Ireland saw the second biggest increase in registrations in the third quarter of 2018 compared with last year, growing from 747 to 1,281.
Speaking to Inside Housing, Steve Wood, chief executive of the NHBC, said he anticipated that the fourth quarter of this year would continue the trend of the third quarter figures.
He said: “October has continued much in the same vein as quarter three, and we would hope the fourth quarter would be similar.
“That doesn’t necessarily mean we will see another big uplift in London because you do get seasonal uplift, but across the UK we would expect to see the number of registrations hold.”
When asked whether the UK’s upcoming exit from the EU could have an impact on the housing market, Mr Wood said: “We have seen some slowdown from some conventional builders in the South East, there have been concerns from builders on the impact of Brexit on the labour force, it is not so much people are leaving but there are less people arriving.
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“House prices in London have fallen in recent months because demand has slowed a little bit, hopefully these are temporary things and we will get back on track.”
