NHBC reveal that new home quarterly registrations are strongest since 2007

Some very encouraging news from the house building sector was published by the NHBC last week as they revealed that new home registrations in Q2 2016 totalled 41,222, marking the strongest quarter since 2007.

The figures were a 1% lift on Q2 2015. Private sector registrations across the UK climbed 6% to 31,753 new homes, whilst the public and affordable housing sector saw a 13% drop to 9,469. The pre-EU referendum uncertainty had not impacted Q2 statistics, commented NHBC’s ceo Mike Quinton.

At the same time, the Q2 figures conveyed a “mixed picture” across the country, NHBC said. Half of the 12 UK regions showed increases in registrations, including the South East with a rise of 37% and the North East at 34% growth against the same period last year. The other half experienced falls in numbers, for example Wales at -30% and London -29%.

But new home completions for the rolling 12 months of July 2015 to June 2016 showed growth in almost all regions, at a 6% overall increase compared to the previous 12 months. This reflected the robust registration growth seen in recent years, NHBC said.

Mike Quinton commented: “Our latest statistics show that the industry continues to consolidate on the strong growth in registrations seen over recent years. 

“These registrations reflect continued industry confidence in the run-up to the EU referendum at the end of June. Indeed, this period was the strongest quarter since Q4 2007, albeit still some way off levels seen over a decade ago.”

Commenting on housing activity since the referendum result, HBF’s director of economic affairs John Stewart said that in the past three weeks, there had been a “bounceback”, with reservations “level pegging with a year ago”.

“The evidence on the ground is that housebuilders are carrying on in market terms. They’ll be looking at what happens next month and in September.”