Dip in new-build residential causes concern

The NHBC has confirmed, 36,566 new homes were registered in the UK during the first three months of the year, down 9% on the same period last year.

Overall, 28,398 new homes were registered in the private sector, a 7% decrease on a year ago.

Registrations in both public and affordable sectors decreased 15% to 8,168 new homes.

Even though there was a dip in Q1 2016, luckily registrations for the financial year 2015/16 remained in line with the previous year

There was also a 10% increase in the number of new home completions for the financial year up to the end of March, compared with 2014/15, with 137,396 completions in total.

However, the number of completions still falls well short of the 250,000 homes needed each year to meet demand, and is likely to fuel concern within government that the industry is failing to significantly boost housebuilding rates.

Last month, we revealed that the Treasury was considering introducing a version of Labour’s ‘use it or lose it’ policy to force developers to speed up building on land with planning permission.