House building levels are set to rise this year in the UK, according to data from the National House Building Council (NHBC).
Between June and August this year, 40,101 new homes were registered, an 11% increase on the same three months in 2014, when 36,149 new homes were registered.
Of these registrations, 8,310 were built in Greater London, while fewer homes were built in Wales, the South East, South West, Yorkshire and the Humber and the West Midlands.
The amount of new home registrations in the private sector during the June-August period hit 30,210, compared with 27,072 last year. In the public sector, 9,891 new homes were registered, up from 9,077 in the same three months in 2014.
However, the figures reveal that registrations for August alone were down by 6%, from 11,037 last August to 10,362 this year.
Last month, the private sector saw a slight drop of 1%, from 8,476 in August 2014 to 8,401 this year, and public sector registrations declined by 23%, at 1,961 compared to 2,561 last year. This decrease follows six consecutive months of growth when compared to last year.
Chief Executive of the NHBC, Mike Quinton, comments: “Despite a slight decrease for August, overall registration levels for the rolling quarter show the same steady growth we’ve seen throughout 2015.
“However, we are now seeing registration volumes fall in the public and affordable sector after a good start to the year.
“This may be due to many housing associations holding back on developments in light of welfare reforms and the cap on rental increases.
“We will closely monitor this over the coming months, along with the private sector, as the house building industry strives to build more new, quality homes that the UK needs.”1
1 http://www.propertyindustryeye.com/house-building-on-course-to-increase-this-year/