Q4 2000 new house-building statistics Scotland 14/02/06
NHBC figures for Scotland reveal that a total of 3,775 applications were made to start new homes during the quarter, an increase of 12 per cent on the same period in 1999 (3,385).
Tom Kirk, director of NHBC Scotland, says: "House building activity in Scotland ended the year on a high note. It is encouraging to see an upturn in the figures, particularly as new home starts in the first three quarters of 2000 were down ten per cent against the same period in 1999."
In Scotland the average anticipated selling price of new homes (registered with NHBC) during the fourth quarter of 2000 was £97,000, a three per cent increase on quarter four 1999 (£94,000). Based on actual selling prices, 31 per cent of new homes cost over £100,000 in quarter four 2000, compared to 21 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 .
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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