Q4 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 fourth quarter this year was up ten per cent on the same period in 1999.
The average expected selling price of new homes (registered with NHBC) was £135,000 during the fourth quarter of 2000, a ten per cent rise on quarter four 1999 (£123,000). Based on actual selling prices, 55 per cent of new homes in Great Britain cost over £100,000 in quarter four 2000, compared to 38 per cent in the same period in the previous year.
In quarter four NHBC's first time buyers' ability to buy index stood at 115, two 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: "In the last twelve months we have seen a slight drop in the number of new homes being built and sold in the UK. During 2000, home starts tailed off by two per cent against figures for 1999, and reported sales also fell two per cent when compared year on year."
UK-wide figures (including the Isle of Man) show a total of 32,855 applications to start new homes during the quarter, a decrease of four per cent on the same period in 1999 (34,055). Of that total, 30,065 relate to private sector activity (i.e. excluding housing associations), a decrease of four per cent on 1999 (31,205). Housing association starts totalled 2,790, a decrease of two per cent on quarter four 1999 (2,850).
NHBC figures show there were 38,900 new build completions during the fourth quarter of 2000, down 11 per cent on the same quarter in the previous year (43,800).
The figure for the average daily sales of new homes in the fourth quarter of 2000 is 507, a decrease of seven per cent on the same period in 1999 (543).
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