UK new house-building statistics - January 2006 15/02/06

Statistics released today by NHBC reveal that the number of UK applications to build new homes in January 2006 increased when compared with figures for January last year.

In January 2006 16,734 applications were made to build new homes in the UK in the combined public and private sectors, showing a 39 per cent increase on the same month in 2005 (12,031). Private sector applications for the month were 14,661, showing a 37 per cent increase on January 2005 (10,736). There were 2,073 UK housing association applications, showing a 60 per cent increase on January of the previous year (1,295).

Imtiaz Farookhi, NHBC Chief Executive, says: "When considering the large increase in applications to build new homes between January 2006 and last year, it is worth noting that the number of applications can be volatile during and after the Christmas period. A better indication of the state of the new housing market at this time is to look at the cumulative number of applications for the financial year. Our statistics show that there have been 151,203 applications to date, a two per cent increase on the same period last year."

New build completions for the combined public and private sectors totalled 10,213 in January 2006, a 17 per cent increase on the same month last year (8,716).

Additional information from NHBC reveals that an average of 733 new homes were sold each day during January 2006, a 27 per cent increase on the same month last year (576).

Note to editors:

NHBC statistics are based almost exclusively on information relating to its 19,000 (approx.) registered house builders who construct around 85% of the new homes built in the UK. As such they represent a unique source of detailed, up-to-date information on new home construction and the house building industry.