October 2002 new house-building statistics
UK NEW HOUSE BUILDING STATISTICS: OCTOBER 2002
Statistics released today by NHBC (National House-Building Council) show UK applications to build new homes decreased by six per cent in October 2002 when compared with figures for October last year.
In October 2002 15,181 applications to start new homes in the UK were made by the combined public and private sectors, down six per cent on the same month in 2001 (16,090). Private sector starts for the month fell to 14,167, showing a four percent decrease on October 2001 (14,715). There were 1,014 UK housing association applications, a 26 per cent decrease on October of the previous year (1,375).
Imtiaz Farookhi, chief executive of NHBC, says: "The decline in the number of NHBC registrations for October is not a sign that the demand for new homes is slowing down, more a reflection of the exceptional number of registrations in October 2001. Overall demand for new houses has not weakened, cumulative registrations show an eight per cent increase on last year. Furthermore October showed a 13 per cent increase on September."
New build completions for both the public and private sectors totalled 15,525 in October 2002, a 13 per cent increase on the same month last year (13,786).
Additional information from NHBC reveals that an average of 546 new homes were sold each day during October 2002, a one per cent increase on the same month last year (539).
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