New home registrations fall by 24 per cent

Friday, 27 July 2012 1:32 PM

Registrations of new homes fell 24 per cent in the second quarter of 2012, according to the National House-Building Council (NHBC).

Just 25,768 new homes were accepted for the organisation’s new home warranties between April and June compared to 33,820 between April and June 2011.

Public sector (social housing) registrations fell 49 per cent to just 6,272 and private sector registrations fell 10 per cent to 19,526.

The biggest decline came in Greater London, where total new home registrations fell 52 per cent from 6,831 to 3,297. The South East, Eastern region and Scotland also saw big falls.

In contrast, registrations were up in the North West, East Midlands and Wales.

NHBC statistics show an even bigger fall taking June on its own. Total registrations were down 43 per cent on June 2011 at 8,328. Private sector registrations fell 26 per cent to 6,685 whole public sector registrations fell 70 per cent to 5,536.

The figures are gloomy news for the government and suggest that provision of new homes is running at less than half the 240,000 a year level needed to meet demand.

However, the NHBC said that June 2011 was an exceptionally buoyant month for private sector registrations and April and May 2012 private registrations were actually higher than in April and May 2011.

Richard Tamayo, NHBC commercial director, said: "As the year progresses we must hope to see a rebound in social housing numbers as providers adapt to new methods of funding. Hopefully the decline in private registrations witnessed in June will, in hindsight, prove to be a statistical blip in what will otherwise be a period of sustained, if modest, private sector volume growth throughout the year."

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