The National House Building Council (NHBC) has announced that the number of new homes registered to be built in the UK topped 156,000 in 2015, marking an increase of 7% on the previous year.
The 2015 total of 156,140 is up on 146,359 new homes registered in 2014 and marks a 75% increase compared to those recorded at the time of the housing crash in 2009.
The NHBC also reported that private sector registrations increased by 7% (118,611 in 2015; 110,674 in 2014) and public sector registrations increased by 5% (37,529 in 2015; 35,685 in 2014).
Despite the 2015 figure of 25,994 new home registrations being down by 9% on the record total of 28,518 in 2015, London is still leading the way as 2015 saw the third highest number of registrations on record, compared with Yorkshire & the Humber that is down 13% on 2014 and Wales that is down 2% on 2014.
Commenting on the annual statistics, Mike Quinton, chief executive of the NHBC, said: “We are pleased to report that 2015 was a year for continued housing growth in the UK. Both the public and private sectors have performed well and we have seen encouraging levels of house-building across most regions of the country.
“There is still a way to go before we are building the levels of new homes that were seen before the economic downturn, but 2015 represents consolidation on the growth seen over the last three years.”
The National House Building Council benefits from an 80% plus market share in UK new home warranties and so offers a strong indication of the health of the country’s new homes market.
