New home registrations up 6% in 2017

More than 160,000 new homes were registered to be built in the UK last year, an increase of 6% on 2016, home statistics from The National House Building Society (HHBC) found.

New home registrations up 6% in 2017

More than 160,000 new homes were registered to be built in the UK last year, an increase of 6% on 2016, home statistics from The National House Building Society (HHBC) found.

NHBC is the leading insurance and warranty provider for new homes and found that 160,606 homes were registered throughout 2017, up from the 152,017 the previous year.

This is the highest level of registrationssince pre-recession levels of a decade ago.

Steve Wood, chief executive of NHBC, said: “Our figures show the market has delivered strong growth resulting in the highest new home figures for a decade and growth across the majority of the UK, including London for the first time since 2014.

“Looking ahead, NHBC will continue to work with the industry to help raise the standards of new homes. With 6% growth in the quantity of new home registrations, the focus on delivering quality for consumers remains critical.”

The private sector grew by 3% with 118,825 new homes registered, with the affordable sector increasing by 14% to 41,781.

This the highest yearly total for the sector since NHBC electronic records began 30 years ago.

New home completions also increased by 4% from 141,685 in 2016 to 147,278 last year.

Nine out of 12 UK regions saw an increase in registrations, with the East Midlands rising by 19% to 14,481, Wales up 19% to 5,470 andtheNorth West increasing by 12% to 16,947).

Figures for London showed the rate of new homes being registered was slightly up in2016, with 17,850 units compared to 17,587 the previous year.

This was first increase year-on-year in the capital since 2014, growing by 1% and up by 38% from Q42016 to Q4 2017.

There were 160,606 registrations in the UK in 2017 compared to 152,017 in 2016 and there were 138,825 total registrations in England compared with 132,575 the previous year.