The demand for housing in the UK shows no sign of relenting, according to latest figures from the National House Building Council (NHBC).
Increases
Statistics show that the number of new homes registered in the United Kingdom in February was 25% higher than in the same month a year ago.
During February, 11,734 new homes were registered, of which 9,209 were in the private sector and 2,525 were in the public. This was in comparison to 9,390 new homes registered twelve months ago, although February was the poorest month for new home registrations recorded in 2014.[1]
Rolling Quarter Rise
An increase was also recorded when looking at the rolling quarter between December 2014-February 2015. During this period, 36,505 new houses were registered, compared to 29,681 in the same time frame twelve months ago. This was another considerable increase of 23%.[2]
The breakdown showed that there were 28,139 registrations of houses in the private sector, a 32% increase from the 21,373 last year. The public sector showed only a modest rise, with 8,366 homes registered compared to 8,308 in the same quarter twelve months ago.[3]
These figures seemingly show a very strong indication that the UK’s new homes market is steadily improving.
Chief Executive of the NHBC Mike Quinton, was delighted was the figures. Quinton said, ‘we are very pleased that the growth we saw throughout last year has continued into 2015, with our latest figures clearly showing that registrations are up on 2014 levels for the last three months, which is great news for the industry.’[4]
Mr Quinton went on however to warn that, ‘we have been clear that we are building way below the level of homes that our country so desperately needs, therefore it is important that we keep up this momentum.’[5]
[1-5] http://www.braxtons.co.uk/news/new-home-registrations-continue-to-increase.html