New Scottish housing registrations ‘up 42 per cent’
The number of new homes registered by local authorities in Scotland has increased by 42 per cent over the previous year, an industry body has reported.
The National House Building Council (NHBC) said that 3,442 new homes were registered between March and May in 2015, when compared to 2,423 homes during the same period last year.
Across the UK, new home registrations for 2015 remain at a higher level than last year with strong growth reported in May.
The figures also show encouraging signs of a revival in the public and affordable housing sector which saw an 8 per cent increase in registrations in May.
For the rolling quarter (March – May), registrations increased by 15 per cent compared to the same period last year (43,987 in 2015; 38,247 in 2014), mirroring the strong growth already reported by NHBC this year.
The private sector increased by 17 per cent during this period (33,046 in 2015; 28,216 in 2014), with the public and affordable sector also up by 9 per cent (10,941 in 2015; 10,031 in 2014).
For May, 14,392 new homes were registered (11,162 private sector; 3,230 public sector), a 9 per cent increase on the 13,194 homes (10,198 private; 2,996 public) registered in the same month last year.
Commenting on the latest statistics NHBC chief executive Mike Quinton said: “So far in 2015 we have seen new home registrations remain consistently ahead of 2014 levels, which is clearly encouraging news for the industry.
“There have also been signs that the public and affordable sector is continuing to improve while the uncertainty predicted by some around the period of the General Election failed to materialise, with steady growth a constant feature throughout the year to date.”
NHBC UK statistics for March – May 2015 show that:
During March – May 2015 the number of registrations was 43,987, a 15 per cent increase on last year (38,247). Of these:
Full regional breakdown of total new homes registered March – May 2015 by region/country: