Tom Kirk, director of NHBC Scotland, says: 'The decrease in starts is in line with a trend which is also affecting England and Wales. However, the outlook is not all gloomy, housing completions for quarter one went up eight per cent over the 1999 figures. The main news for house buyers is the abolition of MIRAS. This should help slow house price inflation and ease pressure on interest rates.'

In Scotland the average anticipated selling price of new homes (registered with NHBC) during the first quarter of 2000 was £87,000, a six per cent increase on quarter one 1999 (£82,000). Based on actual selling price, the proportion of homes sold for over £100,000 was 25 per cent, an increase on the same period last year (21 per cent).

During the quarter, NHBCs first time buyers ability to buy index showed a decrease of two points to 111, compared with 113 in the fourth quarter of 1999. The index is based on a formula which takes into account the average cost of homes bought by first time buyers, average income and mortgage interest rates (from the Nationwide Building Society). The higher the index, the greater the ability to buy.

UK-wide figures, including the Isle of Man, show a total of 43,425 applications to start new homes during the quarter, a seven per cent decrease on the same period in 1999 (46,450). Of that total, 39,355 relate to private sector activity (i.e. excluding housing associations), and show a four per cent decrease on 1999 (40,890). Housing association starts totalled 4,070 - a decrease of 27 per cent on quarter four 1999 (5,560).

NHBC figures show there were 35,530 new build completions during the first quarter of 2000, up 5 per cent on the same quarter last year (33,880).

The figure for the average daily sales of homes in the first quarter of 2000 is 521, an increase of nine per cent on the same period a year ago (480).

Q1 2000 regional figures

ends