Q3 2000 new house-building statistics UK 14/02/06
Figures published today by NHBC (National House-Building Council) show the average expected selling price of new homes started in Great Britain during the third quarter this year was up 18 per cent on the same period in 1999.
The average expected selling price of new homes (registered with NHBC) was £130,000 during the third quarter of 2000, an 18 per cent rise on quarter three 1999 (£110,000). Based on actual selling prices, the proportion of new homes in Great Britain costing over £100,000 went up to 52 per cent, compared to 44 per cent in the same period last year.
For quarter three NHBC's first time buyers' ability to buy index stood at 114, six points higher than the previous quarter. 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.
Imtiaz Farookhi, chief executive of NHBC, says: "Although the big increase in private housing registrations in August did not continue during September, overall registrations for the third quarter were up one and a half per cent on last year. Sales in the third quarter have not fared so well, average daily sales in August and September were down 15 per cent on the same period in 1999. The net effect is that sales for the first three quarters of 2000 show no change on the first nine months of last year."
UK-wide figures (including the Isle of Man) show a total of 39,425 applications to start new homes during the quarter, a decrease of less than one per cent on the same period in 1999 (39,535). Of that total, 35,600 relate to private sector activity (i.e. excluding housing associations), an increase of one and a half per cent on 1999 (35,050). Housing association starts totalled 3,825, a decrease of 15 per cent on quarter three 1999 (4,485).
NHBC figures show there were 36,200 new build completions during the third quarter of 2000, down seven per cent on the same quarter last year (39,100).
The figure for the average daily sales of homes in the third quarter of 2000 is 505, a decrease of nine per cent on the same period a year ago (555).
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