January 2003 new house-building statistics
UK NEW HOUSE BUILDING STATISTICS: JANUARY 2003
Statistics released today by NHBC (National House-Building Council) show UK applications to build new homes increased by two per cent in January 2003 when compared with figures for January last year.
In January 2003 14,841 applications to start new homes in the UK were made by the combined public and private sectors, up two per cent on the same month in 2002 (14,490). Private sector starts for the month rose to 13,541, showing a four per cent increase on January 2002 (12,995). There were 1,300 UK housing association applications, a 13 per cent decrease on January of the previous year (1,495).
Imtiaz Farookhi, chief executive of NHBC, says: "Although the total number of applications to start new homes in January showed little change on the same month last year, they show a 26 per cent increase on the number of starts reported for December 2002. Early evidence for 2003 suggests that growing fears of a housing market correction has had little impact."
New build completions for the combined public and private sectors totalled 10,631 in January 2003, a 12 per cent decrease on the same month last year (12,013).
Additional information from NHBC reveals that an average of 552 new homes were sold each day during January 2003, a two per cent decrease on the same month last year (562).
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